Behind one of many buildings Jennifer squatted, working on something that looked like a mobile phone.

She slipped the last compartment, successfully coupling the device back together. She held it up as if to some metaphorical light and let out a tired breath.

Please work, she prayed, then checked her surrounding.

There was a rifle on the ground next to her. She’d taken it off one of the men that had been following her and had used a few of its bullets.

Right now, there was no one following her. At least no one she could spot.

She pressed the power button and watched the phone come alive.

Yes.

She’d been bothered there for a moment, confused at what to do if the device didn’t come up. There were various ways to contact the others, but this was by far the safest. And fastest.

She waited impatiently as the phone came up. The screen brightened, displayed some insignificant logo of whatever asshat company had provided it, then presented her with the home screen.

She didn’t hesitate to open the dial pad, reminding herself that impatience was a deadly vice. But it didn’t matter. In a matter of seconds, she’d dialed a number and put the phone to her ear.

It rang twice before someone picked.

“Hello,” a deep voice came through.

“I’m stranded here,” she said immediately, voice bland. “What the hell happened to the plan?”

…………..

“Status report,” Daniel instructed.

Kid and Ronda and Eitri stood casually in front of the black lance. The mage was nothing but a husk now, a decaying remnant of what he once was. Still, his hand held on to the lance as if molded to it.

“Wasn’t there any other way?” Eitri asked as if for the simple sake of asking.

“If Zed’s axe was here…” Ronda shrugged. “Maybe.”

Kid shook his head. “There was no other way that would’ve guaranteed our safety. Lance should be neutralized in three minutes, boss. Five minutes, tops.”

Daniel stepped out from behind his cover, strolled casually up to them.

He stood simply, gun in hand. Its barrel was pointed down and away. He took a moment to look around them, at the bodies that littered the ground.

“Are these people alive?” he asked, looking down at one man whose chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

It looked as if he was asleep.

Ronda looked at another and nodded. “Yea. I think they’re just unconscious.”

Daniel frowned. “Aura attack?”

Kid nodded. “Zed put them down.”

Daniel looked thoughtful. Whatever he wanted to say on the matter, he chose to ignore it. Instead, he returned his attention to the lance.

Eitri stood with folded arms.

“I know Zed’s been asking for a while, and I’m really wondering why no one answered him,” he said. “So I’ll try asking, myself. What’s a Devil set?”

All three Olympians looked at each other, as if contemplating the answer to the question. Finally, one of them spoke.

“I think that’s a question for you, boss,” Ronda told Daniel.

In front of them, the aura they’d been feeling from the lance was dying. And the mage was dead.

Daniel scratched his head in contemplation.

“A Devil set,” he said, finally, “is part of the reason the VHF picked the title of VHF. It’s what made them certain that humans were not the only sapient beings in existence.”

“Haven’t people always been speculating about ghosts and aliens since forever?” Eitri asked, unconvinced.

“Those were theories with no basis,” Kid answered.

Eitri looked up at him. “But this one isn’t?”

“That’s all the proof we need.” Daniel gestured at the lance. “Devil sets are what the VHF would call the pinnacle of crafting. And while they are supposed to be ranked weapons, in a way, they are not.”

“Because of their mana signature?” Eitri asked.

Daniel nodded. “We call it Devil mana because someone in the research department named it devil mana, and it just stuck. But in truth, Devil sets are a set of medieval styled armors with unrivaled powers based on whose hand they end up in.”

“No one knows where they came from,” Kid said. “Some people speculate that they have something to do with the mana surge, that mana wasn’t the only thing the mana surges gave us.”

“They think the mana surges gave us the armor sets, too?” Eitri asked, confused. “Do those fools think the mana surges are somehow sentient?”

Daniel shook his head. “No such thing. But from the little I know, it seems they think the surges served as some kind of portal that brought the devil sets here somehow. Either they brought them, or they brought something that brought them.”

“Weapons like this don’t just fall out of thin air you know,” Ronda said. “Someone has to make them.”

“And you guys just assume it’s not people,” Eitri concluded.

“You can look at us like we’re stupid and simple minded,” Daniel said. “Believe me, I think there’s too many problems with the story. But one thing I’m certain of is that, that,” he pointed at the lance, “couldn’t have been made by anyone less than a King rank.”

“So a King rank made it,” Eitri said. “Simple.”

“Maybe,” Daniel said. “But not a King rank human. As at the time the first Devil set was found, the ambient mana wasn’t strong enough to support a King rank mage.”

Eitri sighed. “Now you’re telling me that the ambient mana is growing, too? Seems like your story’s stretching a little bit too thin.”

“I think it’s down, boss,” Kid interrupted.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

They all turned their attention to the lance. True to Kid’s words, the lance wasn’t letting out any more auras. And its multiple whips were all but gone. Its once solid form was slowly growing translucent.

“So how do we collect it without it doing that to us?” Eitri asked.

“Simple.” Kid tossed his rifle at it and nothing happened. “We just take it.”

“And nothing will happen?”

“More or less.” Kid was already walking up to it. “To use anything from a Devil’s set, you’ve got to equip it the same way you would with a ranked weapon. So as long as you don’t equip it, it will revert to its default state.”

“And what’s that?”

Kid grabbed the lance where the mage had once been holding it and it shrunk until it was out of sight.

He held it up to reveal a bracelet. It was a deep black with small beads linked together by a single black thread.

“That makes your story easier to believe,” Eitri said, looking at the bracelet. “I don’t think there’s any transformative weapon, ranked or otherwise.”

“There isn’t,” Ronda confirmed. Then she turned to Daniel. “Normally, we’d call this in. But seeing our present predicament, what do we do now?”

“We go get Zed and find Jennifer.” Daniel turned and headed for the exit. “I’d like us to leave this place as quickly as possible.”

………

Zed continued staring at the puppy that was not a puppy.

Beside him, Oliver asked, “Why do you think it’s not a puppy?”

Zed gestured at the creature with a tilt of his head. “It’s got a danger noodle for a tail.”

“What’s a danger noodle?”

Zed turned a surprised look on him. “A poisoned belt? A nope rope?”

Oliver stared at him without expression.

Zed sighed. “I am slowly beginning to question our friendship, Ollie. Maybe we should start having sessions. Couple’s therapy might be the way to go.”

Oliver shook his head. “We’re not a couple, Zed.”

“Anyway,” Zed continued. “It’s tail is a snake. Now unless my memories are lying to me, dogs don’t have snake tails.”

“And when you shoot a dog it stays down,” Chris added.

Everyone looked at her.

“What?” she asked.

“What kind of monster shoots a dog?” Zed responded. “It’s just wrong.”

“I never said I shot a dog,” she complained. “I haven’t shot a dog before. I swear.”

Zed was already moving on from the conversation.

“So what do we do?” he asked.

“We can leave it or kill it,” Ash said. “But I don’t know how I feel about killing it. On the one hand, there’s a snake involved. On the other, there’s a puppy involved.”

“I’m sure Chris will be happy to help remedy that,” Zed said.

Chris groaned. “I’ve never shot a dog.”

“Why don’t we just take it?” Shanine asked.

Zed looked back at her. “Are you still at the door?”

She gave him a puzzled look. “You told me to wait here.”

“Someone who actually listens to Bloodbath.” Chris shook her head. “What’s the world coming to?”

Zed gestured for her to come in.

“I’m in support of keeping the thing,” he said. “But I’ve spent the last few months killing mana beasts, I’m not sure how taming them is supposed to work. And it’s a Rukh, so there’s that.”

The dog growled as Shanine came closer. It made her stop in her steps.

“You sure letting the kid in is a good idea?” Chris asked. “It doesn’t seem so happy to have her.”

“She’s an Awakened,” Oliver said. “She’s going to have to learn to be around more monsters.”

“Even monsters stronger than her?”

“Especially monsters stronger than her.”

“He’s got a point.” Zed held his hand out behind him and Shanine shuffled forward to hold it. “When I woke up, I was a Beta mage and I still had to deal with monsters that were stronger than me most of the time.” He paused. “There were those two mutated tigers, but that was just in the beginning.”

“And have you forgotten how you got the name Red?” Ash asked.

Zed paused. “Wasn’t it for my luscious hair?”

Chris snorted. “You were more blood than mage when we saw you. If not for your healing attribute you’d be dead ten times over by now.”

The puppy stepped forward, then dived at Zed. Zed hesitated on an action momentarily. The creature was a Rukh rank, but it was small. Only it’s tail felt like any real threat.

His fingers were already twitching into a rune when he changed his mind.

His hand blurred through the air and slapped the creature aside. He winced at the impact, but his blow carried enough force to send the creature flying into another section of the room.

“That hurt like a motherfucker,” he swore. “It’s like trying to smelt iron with my bare hand.”

“Zed,” Oliver said with a touch of worry. “Your hand.”

Zed looked down at his hand and his face fell in embarrassment. “That’s just… not it, at all.”

The hand was broken at odd angles. Staring at it made him queasy, then groggy. I don’t think it’s the sight of a broken hand.

He staggered forward and Shanine released his hand so that she could reach out to grab him.

He doubted it would help in anyway. He was a category 3 Beta mage, and she was just an awakened. There was no math that dictated that she would be able to hold him up.

Wait, he thought, even as his vision began to swirl. Titan axe almost brought the entire car down on the drive here, so how was it able to carry all of us. And why isn’t anyone else panicking about me?

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

· [Snog] has inflicted you with [Raby-venom]

· [Raby-venom] has applied effect [Paralysis], [Madness] and [Nausea].

· Your [Will] is too high.

· [Madness] does not take effect.

· [Equilibrium] is in effect.

· [Nausea] does not take effect.

· [Regenerate] is in effect.

· [Paralysis] does not take effect.

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

Zed watched the notifications slide by. He wondered how he’d been poisoned. All he’d done was slap the dog… Snog.

His vision was clearing and he didn’t have the urge to fall anymore. Still, the paralysis was taking its time to wear off completely.

Someone fired off a gunshot and Zed turned to see smoke coming from the barrel of Chris’ gun.

Beside him, Shanine felt very worried.

“Are you okay?” she was asking.

He nodded slowly, trying to rise to his feet. “I got poisoned from hitting the damned thing.”

She took his hand as he stood up. Once more, he wondered at how the car could carry a bunch of mages but the when only the [Titan axe] had threatened to weigh it all the way down.

Maybe I should ask Festus when we get back.

“I don’t think it’s from hitting it,” Shanine said, cleaning something on his wrist.

He looked down and found two puncture holes with small smears of blood on his wrist.

Did it bite me? In that short time?

“Thanks.”

He looked at Shanine and paused. Her eyes glowed a soft red before turning brown again. He reached for her hand in a hurry and turned it.

“Did you wipe the blood with your hand?” he asked in a low voice.

“You know we aren’t going to just stand here waiting on you, right?” Chris said. “Not everyone’s Shanine. What are we doing with this thing?”

The dog was still snarling, but Zed couldn’t bring himself to care. There were two Rukhs and one Beta mage keeping very alert watch on it right now. There wasn’t much it could do right now.

Besides, he had more important things to worry about.

“Which hand did you use?” he asked, checking her hands.

“This one,” she answered.

But he wasn’t listening to her. He’d already found the hand. There was no blood stain on it, and steam was rising from it.

Shite.

His eyes darted from side to side, hoping no one else had seen. He wasn’t sure how the others would handle the idea of a blood mage, but he knew how the Olympians would handle it. And if they had stood by and let it take its course, including Festus, he didn’t think they’d go out of their way to stand for Shanine.

“Bloodbath?” Chris said, a little irritated. “We’re waiting over here. Don’t make me shoot this thing again.”

“One minute,” he told her without looking away from Shanine.

When did Chris even start listening to him?

“Zed,” Shanine said, her voice happy.

He didn’t like it. He knew he should be happy for her, but not in such a situation. Why couldn’t she just be a poop mage?

“Zed,” she tried again.

“Yes, love,” he answered, finally looking up at her.

She was beaming, her face as happy as her voice.

“I think I know how to use magic,” she said.

Zed stared at her. He had nothing to say to that.

Shite.

Shanine was a blood mage.