Flinq wasn’t my supervisor on my next rotation, but I did recognise who was. Alushex, another of my old colleagues, greeted me at the door with a brief smile.

It was hard not to return it. Of all my transient friends, Alushex had been there from almost the beginning. We’d finished training at almost the same time, only a few days apart.

A nepotism hire – and unabashedly open about it – Alushex had never been interested in the assassination part of the job description, being at the Chapel mainly on parental orders and to improve what he saw as his personal shortcomings. Over the years, I’d watched him do just that. He’d gone from a shy, unconfident youth to a font of grace and charisma, which hadn’t been the most survivable or powerful use of augments, but seemed to have made him happy.

It didn’t appear to be holding him back. When I’d last seen him, he’d still been a Pen. And now he’d moved up again.

On him it barely showed, unusual for a Hex. And there was a clear giveaway to anyone who'd known him, in that he looked ethereally intimidating and nothing like he had when he’d first started. He probably conducted more than his share of candidate interviews. But there was a reason it didn’t take much to convince the Reins we were gods. Alushex’s recruits would take slightly more convincing.

Instead of a warm greeting or something in that expected vein, however, the Hex shoved a slip of paper abruptly into my hands.

“Wait,” I began. “What –”

My latest boss ignored me, whirled me around by the shoulders and gave me a gentle shove out of his office. It clicked closed behind me.

Blinking, I tried to mentally catch up with what had just happened and reopened the door, but it had already moved on. I found myself entering the Machine room instead, where Inyusol, at least, was still reliably suffering at his one-note introductory posting. He wore a new ivory outfit but still had the red ribbon tied around his neck.

“Hi,” I said, raising the hand holding the paper. “How’s the work going?”

“Very well, fortunate one.”

That was a lie. Nobody liked Machine duty, and it had always seemed like working there had to be a redundant step. I had a theory we were only put in it to make us more grateful to be killing.

For the first time, I looked at Alushex’s paper. “I need Jayden Loy in…” I raised my eyebrows. “Final Super Dokki World. Wow.”

Inyusol didn't react to the name, instead reaching up to depress a button on the ceiling. It didn’t matter which one. Fate took care of the rest. He caught the small ball that appeared and handed it to me with a bow.

After the urgency Alushex had displayed, I was pleased to see the tracer smooth and degeneration-free. I swallowed it and absorbed its knowledge, then turned back to the hireling.

“What core did they give you?” I asked out of curiosity. He’d probably already fielded that question from everyone who came in.

“Think Again, fortunate one. It allows me to alter my recent actions in the past so that mistakes may have never happened.”

Time magic. You didn't see that too often. “That’s powerful,” I acknowledged. “You’ll rise up the ranks in no time.”

“Thank you. And you –” He caught himself mid-sentence.

“Yes?”

“Forgive my asking. Do you really have all Defects?”

I grinned. Word had gotten around. “Someone capable of erasing mistakes should be asking that question without hesitation. I do. But there’s only a five percent chance of it hitting you, so I wouldn’t be too worried. I’m a special case.”

“Is it difficult?”

I eyed the youth carefully, wondering if there was a deeper motive behind the question. All I saw was curiosity. “Harder than not having Defects? Of course. But it’s relative. What were you before coming here? Royalty?”

The dip of his eyes told me I’d guessed it right. Once upon a time it would have cowed me, but times had changed.

“Then it might be less obvious from where you’re sitting,” I said. “But even for you, this is a step up. There are nations and cities, and then there’s all of reality. We’re the House of Fate; no one’s more powerful than us.”

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“Thank you,” Inyusol said again, his expression serious. “And you? What were you before coming here?”

My smile faded. “Lucky,” I said, doing my best to keep it up at the corners. I had to keep telling myself that. “Defects and all.”

A little awkwardly, I exited into the staircase and on into the loading bay. Never too popular at the best of times, it only housed me today. Most Chapel assassins needed showers and a cloakroom, not a carwash.

At any given point, I estimated there were several hundred of us racing around the multiverse. At least the Dus and Tris. Sols were busy eating up training and service duty, and the second-tiers collectively ran the day-to-day of the organisation. All I had to worry about was following orders, and that wouldn’t be changing for a while.

So why was there so much on my mind?

I activated vehicle mode and exited into the Interstice, pulling the usual last-minute switch before arriving at my destination. My tracer informed me I’d landed in the correct place.

Final Super Dokki World turned out to be a beautiful grassy hillside in vibrant shades of green with no roads in sight and an unusual abundance of threatening-looking wildlife. Trees dotted the hillside in sporadic copses. I decided to shift back.

Thanks to Alushex having some kind of bizarre crisis of impatience, I lacked any sort of a useful brief. All jobs boiling down to 'kill the Rein', it was more of a formality, anyway. I felt for the tracer’s directions and jumped when they appeared in front of me as a visible map. It was a top-down view with what I assumed was supposed to be me in the centre as a blue glowing circle, my target as a second, redder circle ahead in the distance, and various other greyed-out icons.

“Ah,” I muttered, staring at it. Shivers ran up my arms. Dismiss, I thought, and the display vanished obediently.

I’d heard about this, even seen it from the outside once or twice. Universes where reality was quantified and neatly bundled away; subjective qualities packaged into objective, defined measurements and controlled by arbitrary systems. They were where we sent many of the Reins after they died, so presumably they were also a recipe for universe-ending disaster.

Not usually before they died.

I double-checked I was in the right universe again, which accidentally resummoned the map. The Rein was located just over a couple of hills where a tiny skull icon was rapidly barrelling in his direction.

Eying the nearer wildlife, I picked out a path of general avoidance, staying low in the windswept grass. It and the trees helped to cover my movement, and I was prepared to turn vehicle again at the first sign of serious trouble. But oddly, the animals didn't seem to notice or scent my presence. I was able to creep right past.

At the crest of the first hill, I stopped resisting temptation and thought Status, which brought up an interface exactly as predicted.

The contents were less so.

[Name: Lamutri Chapelsworn,] I read. [Class: Assassin.]

Chapelsworn? I wasn't aware I’d had a surname, but liked the sound of it. I could get used to it.

It was all downhill from there.

[Level: ERROR,] continued the readout, letters displayed in glaring red text that felt personally accusatory.

[Species: ERROR.]

[Status: Healthy.]

[Skills:]

At this point, the interface gave up on text entirely and simply displayed the rest of the screen in glitch graphics that jittered disconcertingly whenever I moved my eyes. I was relieved to see it hadn’t broken the ability to close the display, and resolved not to try it a second time in case my good luck didn’t repeat.

I didn’t make it all the way up the second hill before the Rein came towards me. After Jadal Cai, it was a reassurance to see one back on form. He charged backwards over the approaching crest shouting bloody murder, accompanied by a young man and woman with impractically-styled hair. The Rein’s outfit wasn’t much better, with ornate black embellishments and pieces jutting out that seemed like they’d made enemies with both gravity and the environment. I could see it working for a gala. Less so the current situation.

Following them at a thunderous gallop was a giant four-legged beast with fur that fell in billowing curtains. It should have crushed them in short order, but somehow the trio managed to outrun it at superhuman speeds.

The male companion made an impressive slide taking him under the legs of the beast and shot purple fire at it from the tip of a staff materialising in his fingers. Roaring, the creature reared and stamped, only to expose its vulnerable belly. The female companion fired a volley of arrows into it from a similarly transient weapon, shifting its attention back again to the front.

I kept low in the grass and scuttled my way towards the nearest tree trunk for protection. With any luck, the beast would do my job for me. This would have been a good time to own a controllable version of Near Miss, but I didn’t.

The Rein had stopped charging and begun running around the side. He took a flying leap four times his height, somersaulted onto the beast’s back and grabbed at handfuls of the fur covering its skull. Pulling them towards him, the action exposed the beast’s throat long enough for the two other hunters to bury projectiles deep in its throat, and with a keening, gurgling yelp, the animal pitched over to its doom. Grass flew everywhere at the impact, and I felt the urge to sneeze. I pinched at the bridge of my nose.

The Rein and his companions promptly began picking over the fallen corpse. The female sidekick dismissed her bow and produced a surprising hacksaw, which she used to cut into the gizzards.

I found myself a little confused. The Rein was definitely the right man, according to both the Chapel's tracer and my own eyes. But much like the version in the Black Waste, he was already far stronger than he should have been. The environment also seemed… off, in a way I couldn't quite place. Maybe because of the system.

If I had to guess, I’d been accidentally sent to a target post-reincarnation, which meant killing him was not only the antithesis to my mission statement, but likely also beyond my means. Once the Chapel released them into their new lives, Reins rapidly ascended in power in order to become the champions of their adopted universe.

This one obviously had a long way to go. But I didn’t intend to test it.