Electricity raced through the Darkblade. Owin tensed on top of the counter, ready to pounce. If Nikoletta intended to harm Miya, Owin had to be ready to stop any attack.

A figure appeared behind the mender, mostly draped in shadows until the luminous light of her mace shone on massive, silver eyes.

A cathkabel.

Summon the Withered Shade

Shade wordlessly tossed the Thunderstrike Maul to Owin while he held up a floppy Isotelus.

Nikoletta's features barely flickered as she looked at the limp sword.

"I thought we were done with this," Owin said.

"You left me for dead."

"I left you alive. On purpose." He had never tried using the Thunderstrike Maul in one hand and the Darkblade in the other, but with his 2 Shard strength and dexterity, it should be easy. If needed, he could abandon one to focus on the other. His chitin armor shifted, ready to respond as needed.

Two shards lifted from her shoulder, humming eerily. "You are filth tainting this world."

"Oh, I've got a lot of names for you that I shouldn't say," Shade said.

"The summon is a Cursed?" the cathkabel said. Its voice was quiet, almost like a pur. "Kill the goblin and the Cursed suffers." He said it as a positive, like he wanted Shade to suffer.

"Fuck this guy," Shade said. "I'll take you on."

Nikoletta took a step out of the doorway, letting the cathkabel walk past.

It opened big, feathered wings and held a black scythe. "I am the Death Priest, Zazenk. You are the Withered Shade, the disgraced entertainer."

"I'm a lot more than that."

Zazenk touched Nikoletta's shoulder with long, bulb-like fingers. The cathkabel leaned in close and whispered something. A long, thin tongue moved about its lips as it spoke.

"Owin, remember what I said?" Shade asked.

Owin grunted. He didn't know what Shade was talking about.

"We don't let them."

Owin nodded.

Shade's index opened. As soon as the yellow light appeared, Nikoletta blasted the skeleton with a beam of luminous magic. The Luminous Burst knocked Shade back, but he steadied himself before he fell onto Miya's unconscious body.

Owin had yet to move. He only stared at the golden eyes that had hunted him and Artivan.

"You started this."

Nikoletta sneered. "Don't speak to me." She stepped aside, allowing Zazenk to pass into the alchemy laboratory. "I will finally end your accursed life."

Owin stayed on the counter. His hands trembled. Shade knew what to do. Shade was capable.

Zazenk stalked forward, head cocked and a cocky smirk on his oddly small mouth. "You still think you can redeem yourself after becoming Cursed? Do you know the gods have forsaken you for all eternity?"

Shade shifted his stance like he was uncomfortable. "I can redeem myself."

"Oh, no, no. Deniz Saboator. You are forgotten to history, and soon, you will be locked in purgatory again." Zazenk grasped the scythe with both hands and lifted it high. "Are you ready to be sent to your prison?"

Shade activated Shuriken, splitting Isotelus into separate, spinning blades.

The approaching cathkabel hardly looked impressed.

Owin kept his eyes on Nikoletta without letting Shade out of his peripheral sight. She knew how he fought, and she had no intention of making the first move. A mender could be defensive. And without Shade, he would be weakened. It would have been a smart move if they knew anything about the new techniques Owin and Shade had developed.

Zazenk swung the scythe horizontally.

Withered Swap.

The scythe passed over Owin's head. The spinning shurikens all shot forward, tearing into the cathkabel's body. Owin stabbed with the Darkblade, driving it through Zazenk's kneecap. It locked in place as muscles spasmed from the constant flow of electricity. He grabbed the Thunderstrike Maul with both hands and swung, bashing it into the cathkabel's other knee.

Their element of surprise was gone.

Shade fell from the counter as he was struck with another blast of luminous magic. Nikoletta was already charging for him with her mace held high.

Owin rolled to the side, avoiding an attack from the collapsing cathkabel.

Summon the Withered Shade

Summon the Withered Shade

Shade reappeared right at his side, leaving only a cloud of dust for Nikoletta to attack.

"Oh, does that hurt?" Shade asked. He recalled Shuriken.

Silver blood flowed from the holes all over Zazenk. Magic flowed into him as Nikoletta vaulted the counter.

Owin wasn't going to just let his enemies heal. He rebroke the knee as soon as it healed. Shade slapped the cathkabel with a limp Isotelus.

Withered Shield appeared around Owin. It reverberated as a swing from Zazenk bounced off. He hadn't even seen the cathkabel move.

Zazenk beat his wings, sending a gust that pushed Owin back. His feet slid right over the dusty ground. Shade fell and tumbled, but made it back to his feet.

Nikoletta stopped at the cathkabel's side and continued healing him.

"The Grand Council of the Globe has called for the death of Owin the goblin," Zazenk said. "I have been chosen to see that death brought to fruition."

"That's a lot of words to say you're an assassin for Elysium," Shade said as he froze Isotelus.

"I am a messenger for the land above." Zazenk bent down and ripped the Darkblade from his knee. He tossed it aside and let Nikoletta fix the wound. "Nikoletta the Zealot will see it through."

Luminous flames erupted around her. Owin now recognized Ethereal Might. Between that, Luminous Surge, and healing spells, she was burning through mana quickly. Maybe she had grown more than he had expected.

"We need to take her out," Shade said. "She'll keep healing the frog."

"I told Kat and Ernie—"

"You've told me the story, Owin. Sometimes we need to make people wish they never met us."

Owin's chest tightened at Artivan's last words to him. "Okay."

"Forget everything else."

Nikoletta looked over at Miya as the unconscious alchemist twitched.

Owin shattered the basement wall as he rushed forward. Nikoletta blocked with her mace, but the blow of the Thunderstrike Maul sent her through the ceiling and out into Atrevaar.

Zazenk's scythe smashed into the unbreakable shield on Owin's back. The cathkabel had enough strength to send Owin into the counter and break through it, but the damage was minimal.

A clash of ice and metal rang in the air.

"Go!" Shade shouted.

Owin leapt through the hole he had created and landed lightly in the plaza outside the portal circle. Citizens were already clearing and Security Regime was flooding into the area.

Nikoletta, burning with luminous light, walked confidently through a parting, retreating crowd. "Your tricks won't work."

"They're not tricks. I'm faster. I'm stronger. I'm going to kill you."

A smile finally appeared on Nikoletta's face, and it was the worst thing Owin had ever seen.

"The monster shows itself."

***

Sofia stood, wide-eyed. Members of the local military were already on both sides. They had to know who she was, or at least who Veph was, and left them to hold part of the line. Protocol for Shard Hero fights, especially 2 or above, was to let it happen. Intervening could cause more destruction. Consequences came later.

"This was your fucking idea?" Sofia asked. "Who is that?"

"The one that gave Owin his nightmares."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Owin doesn't sleep!"

Veph shrugged.

Owin had to have grown considerably. If Chorsay, Arkasti, and the others were concerned about this creature before, he would have been weaker. The beast before her was more than ferocious. Even with another shard, she didn't want to fight him. Each step shattered the stone. He moved like a vampire, blurring as he swung the oversized hammer.

It was impressive, especially when the Void Nexus mender kept pace. She took hit after hit, but healed with such precision and speed that she was able to still counter attack. Owin was already covered with luminous burns, but he didn't seem the least bit phased.

The gray skeleton poofed into existence and pushed the offensive without hesitation. It was almost like the skeleton already knew what was happening before he arrived. He swung a frozen bone sword that cut deep into the mender's armor. At the pace they were going, Nikoletta would be out of mana and without protection in minutes at most.

A cathkabel burst from the ruined building. It wore a black helmet that sat just above its bulging silver eyes. It wore the common skin-tight silver cathkabel suit with pieces of black armor, a bandolier, and a skirt on top. He wielded a massive black scythe, which was unlike anything she had seen a cathkabel use before.

"What are you going for?" Sofia asked. She put a cigar in her mouth and nearly lost it from a gust of wind brought by a clash.

"We see how Owin reacts to facing her after it's over." Veph flipped her wand over her fingers. "Or he dies."

Sofia bit down on the cigar, accidentally taking a chunk off. She coughed, spit part of it out, and lit the remainder. This was worse than she had expected. What did she agree to?

***

Owin lost two crab legs as they emerged and deflected a scythe attack from behind. Owin pivoted, turning away from Nikoletta, and threw the Thunderstrike Maul as it glowed brightly.

Zazenk, still recoiling from the sudden appearance of needle-sharp crab legs, beat his wings in an attempt to avoid the glowing hammer. He brought himself backward, but the heavy hammer followed and struck him in the chest. Energy erupted, sending the cathkabel flying through a distant storefront. The military had to widen the circle to accommodate the newly destroyed building.

Shade shot a bolt of lightning from his armored hand. Even as it hit the glowing mace, the lightning ricocheted and hit Nikoletta in the face, as well as carving a path through the cobblestone plaza.

"Pull it back," a Security Regime member shouted. The whole circle shifted, except two Owin barely noticed. Sofia and Veph.

Were they behind this?

Nikoletta's mace smashed into Shade's skull, turning the skeleton to dust.

Summon the Withered Shade

Owin grabbed the Incandescent Blade from a damaged crab claw. As soon as he took the sword, the chitin limb crumbled. It still did its job. Fire climbed the blade, blazing brightly in the afternoon sun.

Nikoletta's buffs all vanished. The glow faded and fire dissipated. So suddenly, she looked unthreatening. Just a battered, scarred, person who held a beautiful gem that glimmered with perfect white light. "Consecrated Avatar."

The gem crumbled as she closed her fist.

Before Owin could rush in, luminous flames unlike any he had ever seen, burst from the top of her shaved head. She screamed as the fire grew, burning away flesh and leaving only white light behind.

Zazenk cackled as he walked out of the broken storefront behind them. "The Zealot rises!"

"I'm running out of ideas," Shade whispered.

"What are you?"

"Soldier."

"Is there a way to use that?"

"No. Reroll."

Summon the Withered Shade

Summon the Withered Shade

"Knight. Let's use it."

Owin turned, letting Shade pull the unbreakable shield from his back. Now, he just had to remember he didn't have that protecting him. He had grown so used to having it back there.

"Do you know what's strong against luminous?" Shade asked.

"Abyssal."

"And luminous." Shade's shield flashed with light. "You might need to give me some advice."

"I'm not a knight, Shade."

A shadow passed over them as Zazenk flew high into the air. Nikoletta looked smug as the last of her skin burned away. She truly was a glowing avatar of luminous light.

"I don't think luminous will do anything to her right now," Owin said.

"Well, there's not an abyssal knight, Owin."

A sound like a hawk screaming rang in the air. Shade stepped close to Owin, crouched, and raised the shield.

"Rampart." A brown flash passed over Shade. A white flash covered him a moment later as the stones under them cracked from the sudden increase of weight.

Owin's breath caught. Seeing these abilities again only made him think of Artivan.

Zazenk fell like a meteor and sliced, trying to take Owin's head off with the black scythe. Shade moved the shield in place and stopped it perfectly.

***

Sofia was nearly tossed right off her feet from the cathkabel's attack. Whatever power that thing had, it was more than a 2 Shard Hero. There was something unnatural about Nikoletta having that as a summon. The summoner always needed to be stronger than the creature summoned.

If they weren't, the summoned creature wasn't actually under control. Was this cathkabel just pretending to be subservient?

"What's happening?" Sofia asked.

The skeleton popped out of his defensive position and chopped with his bone sword. It took on a luminous glow and actually cut through the silver cathkabel bodysuit.

"You'll need to be more specific," Veph said, still twirling her wand. Sofia couldn't help but wonder if the wizard intended to use that deadly weapon, and if she did, would Owin be able to stop her?

"That cathkabel ain't a normal mender summon."

"A Death Priest. Same level as an Archbishop, I guess."

Sofia's eyes widened. An Archbishop of Elysium took at least a 3 Shard Hero to beat. Were Owin and the skeleton strong enough together to beat a 3 Shard?

Now that the mender used a Power 6 . . .

"What the fuck," Sofia whispered.

The mender had yet to join the fray, leaving her cathkabel open to a brutal assault from the goblin and skeleton. The two fought with such rhythm that it looked like they had been fighting together for decades.

The goblin hadn't even been alive for decades.

Or had he?

She had definitely killed the goblin darkblade on the first floor plenty of times, so had she killed Owin that many times?

Oh. She felt sick.

Light like the sun flashed brightly causing most Security Regime in the circle to block their eyes.

***

Owin had kept Nikoletta in his sight as the fight continued. She had been hovering just above the ground, looking over her hands, arms, and mace, which were all now made of light.

He followed Shade's lead, putting pressure on Zazenk. The cathkabel was fast, but not nearly as fast as Owin. The Incandescent Blade burned brightly and cut through the weird suit the cathkabel wore with ease. Once they had gotten close, there was little the cathkabel could do with his scythe. He kept beating his wings to get distance, but Owin stayed right in front, dashing to stay within range. Shade was able to follow up or use knight abilities to varying effects.

The cathkabel was bleeding severely. Some of his guts were even threatening to spill from a gash across his abdomen.

Then, Nikoletta flashed. She flew across the plaza with such speed that Owin didn't even manage to face her before her mace crashed into his head. The world blurred as he was launched. Chitin crumbled from his broken helmet.

Withered Swap.

Owin was still disoriented as he reappeared in front of Zazenk. The cathkabel had clearly been anticipating an attack from Shade, so his arms were raised much too high. Owin clenched his jaw, stepped, and chopped diagonally. The exact same attack had failed to ever get even close to hitting Zezog.

The burning Incandescent Blade sliced through the cathkabel's skirt, into the silver suit beneath, and deep into the flesh. It slowed, so Owin pivoted and tore the blade free, which ripped through bone and flesh, spraying silver blood.

Summon the Withered Shade

Shade reappeared without the shield or Isotelus. "Get ready. She's coming!"

The building Zazenk had been knocked into earlier exploded with luminous magic. A few Security Regime heroes used spells and abilities to contain the damage, but debris still rained through the portal circle plaza.

She was going to come straight for him again. At that speed, it was nearly impossible to react.

What could he do?

Shade rammed himself into Zazenk, who was already trying to staunch the bleeding from his severed leg. The cathkabel wobbled and beat his wings vigorously to stay upright.

"You inbred apostates," Zazenk said. He dropped his scythe and pressed both hands to his leg. Luminous light flashed.

Owin jumped and sliced the cathkabel's throat. Shade rammed himself into Zazenk again, finally tipping the creature over.

As soon as he saw Nikoletta emerge from the building, Owin used Smoke Cloud. The area was immediately covered in a cloud.

"Down," Owin said as he ended the flames on the Incandescent Blade. He dropped flat to the ground. Shade did the same, and Nikoletta flew right overhead, swinging the mace with deadly strength.

She stopped herself and blasted the smoke away with luminous magic.

***

"Stop them," Sofia said. She had her gun drawn and pointed at the mender. Slag had dropped from her backpack, ready to roll in and throw spells if needed.

"No. I have Althowin's permission." Veph gave her a look more terrifying than anything else Sofia had ever seen. "Put your weapon away."

"She's going to kill him."

"Then he dies."

"You have no fucking empathy." Sofia shoved the barrel of the gun against Veph's chest.

Security Regime members immediately backed away from the two women.

Veph already had the Wand of Cassimarcia's Wrath pressed against Sofia's stomach.

"You'd kill everyone here with that."

Veph's eyes were hard. "Put your weapon away and shut up."

***

"I don't know what any of these do!" Shade shouted.

Owin blocked everything he could. Attack after attack slipped through his defenses and scorched his skin. He could feel blood running under what was left of his armor. Nikoletta was relentless, and each attack, even if he blocked it, burned him with painful luminous light.

Bolt appeared to do nothing as the electricity dissipated within her magical body. Even with the Incandescent Blade relit, the sword didn't seem to be able to truly slash or damage her. It was only his speed that kept him alive.

He was running out of time, and he had no ability to even try to think about what Shade was saying.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Shade asked. He jumped over Zazenk's hand as the cathkabel clawed at him. "It's not my fault I'm an elemental magus. Who chooses that?"

Nikoletta couldn't even be bothered to heal the cathkabel. Her mace hit the Incandescent Blade and launched it from Owin's grip. He dropped low, trying to dodge, only to take a mace hit to the forehead.

Owin landed on his back with blood running between his eyes and over his nose. He sat up, dazed. The air itself rumbled.

Shade had his right hand raised high. "Cryokinetic Tempest." The olm skin glove shriveled, crushing the gray bone underneath. Shade didn't flinch as the Power 6 magus spell shot a beam of blue light into the sky.

A dark cloud immediately formed over most of Atrevaar.

Almost all of the Security Regime abandoned their posts immediately, fleeing into buildings or simply running away.

Nikoletta paused her attack, looking into the sky.

Owin exhaled and saw a stream of his breath condensing into smoke.

"Run," Zazenk said.

The first hail fell just beside Owin's head. It was the size of a dagger, and just as sharp. The ice fell with such force that it cut right into the cobblestone.

The light of Nikoletta's body had faded. She looked at her hand, then to Zazenk.

"Run," the cathkabel said again.

She dropped at his side and pressed a hand to his leg. Shade punched her in the face, but she didn't flinch even as his gauntlet connected with her luminous skin. The bleeding stopped, but the cathkabel's leg was too far away to try to reattach.

Owin crawled to his feet and shielded his head as ice started to drop more rapidly.

Nikoletta's skin was starting to reappear as the light faded. She grabbed Zazenk by the shoulders and used a burst of speed to haul him into the ruins of the Nimble Hogs. They disappeared back into the basement.

Owin wobbled on his feet. Shade ran over and grabbed his arms, dug into the bag, and splashed a health potion directly on Owin's face.

"Are you awake? Are you alive? Maybe we should try some simple math problems to help check if your brain is still working." Shade shook him gently with his one hand. "What is two plus two?"

"Shut up, Shade. What do we do?"

Shade flinched as the spell truly unleashed its fury. He shielded Owin with his own body, but the dagger-like icicles fell everywhere but where they stood. Sunlight glittered beautifully through the constant hail despite the dark cloud directly overhead.

A building collapsed and people shouted in the chaos.

Shade gripped Owin's shoulder. "I don't know."

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