The Nexus Knight [Chapters 24-26]

Hey peeps!

Posters are heading my way. I'm excited for those. Just trying to get all my words written this month, lol

Oh! There's a puzzle in this chapter. Let me know if you solve it quickly (before Kellan) because I'm hoping the reader won't be able to piece it together. o.o (Ify ou can, I need to make it harder...)

Short story this time around will be when Zelfree, Theasin, and Ruma found the abyssal leech arcanist. Hopefully Brian will come back to narrate for you all!

Shami

—Chapter 24—

—Team 42 in the Flesh—

Kellan returned to the woman’s cage. He grabbed the door and pulled. It opened without a problem, like it hadn’t been locked at all.

The saggy-skinned woman waited, the cuffs around her ankles and wrists preventing her from standing. She fidgeted with her two-toned hair, pulling some of the thin strands so that they blocked most of her face. Was she avoiding eye contact? Kellan didn’t have time to dwell.

He walked over and effortlessly scooped her up into his arms. She was thin—like she was half-human, half-coat rack. The woman pressed her face against Kellan’s chest, her breathing quick and ragged.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Kellan stated. “I’ll get you out of this.”

She said nothing.

Kellan hurried out of the cage and made his way over to the one with Team 101’s doll. The woman inside wore designer clothing, just like the others, but she was smaller, hunched over, and her head leaned to one side because her neck was too weak to support it.

Her pendant did, in fact, have the number 101.

The woman in Kellan’s arms glanced over at the new cage. “Look over here, Kay,” she whispered. “This man here is actually the one from the TV. The one who spoke with the Arbiter and lived.”

The girl in the cage, Kay, scrunched her forehead. “What?” Her head basically rested on her shoulder, that was how poorly supported it was.

“He’s wearing illusions, Kay. He’s tricking people. You’re his doll. Hurry and unlock the door.”

“Are you sure, Millie?”

“Yes. Quickly.”

The girl in Kellan’s arms—Millie, he assumed—went back to pressing her face into his chest. He wasn’t sure how he was going to carry both of them, so he turned in Mavis’s direction. Mavis stood next to the counter of Moss Burger, glaring down at a tray of food. The worker behind the register was nothing more than a dummy mannequin. It seemed to move using robotic mechanisms, but Kellan wasn’t close enough to really get any details.

When Mavis caught him staring, he motioned her over with a quick jerk of his head.

It was odd seeing her in the illusion of an old woman, but he didn’t give a shit. They had bigger problems to worry about. Several other teams had taken their dolls and gone. That meant the enemy players were ahead of them. If at any point they decided to lie in wait, they could prepare an ambush.

Kellan didn’t want to deal with that. He wanted the entire Escort game over.

Mavis jogged over. She stared at the inbred resident in his arms, and then the one in the cage. The confusion was thorough.

“That one there is our doll,” Kellan said, motioning to Kay. “This one—” he glanced at the woman in his arms, “—is the decoy. She’s actually Team 33’s doll. Her name is Millie.”

“What happens if you return a different team’s doll for them?” Mavis asked.

“Just in case anyone is wondering,” Bitso said, his voice booming over the food court. “If you somehowdeliver another team’s doll to the finish, they’ll receive the key for your efforts! So strange, to help them out, but what do I know?”

His manic, cackling laugh punctuated his statement. The other mages in the room didn’t seem concerned with the message. Kellan found it off-putting that Bitso somehow knew what they were discussing, even though he was several cages away.

Perhaps the Arbiter just tells him everything.

“Do we really want to help Team 33?” Mavis asked.

Kellan half-shrugged. “Who cares? If they get a key, it doesn’t affect us, and we needed a decoy anyway.”

“All right. I just… I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“What’s with the food?” Kellan glanced back at the odd burgers. Sen grabbed up five of them and awkwardly carried them over to Husker and his sister. “Why eat any of it?”

“Apparently, the food around here gives you immunities.” Mavis pointed to Moss Burger. “That one makes you immune to rot.” She jutted her thumb at a shop called Kitten Corn Dogs. “That food makes it so you can’t drown.” Then she motioned to a counter with the words Internal Lemonade. “That drink makes it so you can’t be burned.”

“Why?”

Mavis shook her head. “Sen said it’s probably part of the game. Apparently, we can only take one of the foods.”

“And you picked the moss-covered burger?” Kellan glanced between the three options. Immunity to rot?

“The other two sounded… questionable. And much worse, in my opinion.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore since you’ve already picked. We should go.”

Mavis knelt and picked up Kay, the Nexus resident. Fortunately, Kay was small. She, too, was like a skeleton, thin and practically rattling. Mavis held the woman tight, but it was clear she wasn’t used to the strain.

When Kellan lifted an eyebrow, Mavis shook her head. “It’s like boot camp all over again,” she quipped.

With a snort and laugh, Kellan nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”

Kellan and Mavis hurried to the others, their dolls in their arms, both silent. Xiang, Sen, and Husker had their burgers, each wrapped in a strange white wax paper. Once Kellan got close, his analysis gave him further information.

Magical Item [Consumable]—Moss Burger

The mage becomes immune to entropic rot effects for the next 15 minutes. Tastes like fresh moss.

What freakish dimension thought moss would make for a great burger topping? Kellan shook his head, hoping to Baby Jesus that the corndogs and lemonade weren’t also named literally.

“Why do you have two residents?” Husker asked as he glanced between the two misshapen women. “I thought we only needed one.”

Kellan held Millie close. “We needed a decoy anyway, right? Well, now we have one.”

“But it’s alive. We don’t want that. We can just illusion a rock.”

“She will be fine,” Kellan stated.

Husker flashed his fangs. “Don’t. If you go making things personal, this will be a lot harder than it needs to be. Don’t ask the dolls their names. Don’t go thinking they’re people.”

“I already did.”

Husker ran a clawed hand over his long, canine face. “Ephrath help us… We’re gonna suffer through this one.”

Sen rolled his eyes as he passed out the burgers, but he didn’t add any commentary to the discussion. One burger went to his sister, another went to Husker, a third went to Mavis, the fourth went to Kellan, and the last one Sen tucked into his hoodie pocket. They smelled of BBQ sauce and beef, which Kellan appreciated, but he dreaded having to eat it.

“Shouldn’t we get two more?” Mavis asked. She struggled to hold her Nexus resident, but after hefting her up a bit, managed to get a good hold. “These dolls will need protection, right?”

“The worker robot would only provide me an equal number of burgers to the members of our team.” Sen motioned back to the android behind the counter. “We’re not allowed to have any more.”

Which worried Kellan. He already had a bad feeling about this.

Then Sen handed his sister a paper map. He held a second map, and he walked over to Kellan to show it off. Although everything was written in Sanskrit, the pictures and lines were easy enough to decipher.

The mall was in the center of the city. The minigolf course was on the west side of the massive shopping center, giving Kellan enough perspective about the layout of the city, and rough distances. The end goal was far to the east, at the very edge of the business district, but the map made it seem as though getting there would be difficult. The main roads were marked with solid lines. Were they blocked off? It seemed that way.

And some roads were labeled with a skull. Others had terrible stick drawings of monsters.

Flame and water symbols were also placed on certain buildings and in parks. Mass fires and flooding? The food items seemed to make more sense.

Everywhere on the map was some sort of hazard.

Technically, Kellan saw a completely safe route—no lines or bizarre warning pictures—but it required them going back to the golf course, going far north around most of the city, and then down to the goals.

“How much time do we have left?” he asked.

Sen turned his attention to a massive clock built in the center of the food court. “Eight hours.”

Could they walk across an entire city in eight hours? Seemed like they would be pushing their luck. Would other teams be there?

Kellan pointed to the route. “Listen up. If Xiang and Mavis go north and take this path without any hazards—and while staying safe under illusions—I think they won’t be harassed. Sen, Husker, and I will take this path here.” He ran a finger along a line toward the goal. “It… requires us to go through the skulls, which I’m going to assume means rot.”

“Why?” Mavis asked.

“Because of the burgers, obviously. That’s our one immunity.” Kellan glanced up and met Xiang’s gaze. She tensed under his gaze, like she wasn’t expecting him to address her. “Since you and Mavis won’t need a burger, I’d like one of them.”

“For what?” Xiang asked.

“For the doll,” Kellan drawled. He tightened his hold on Millie. The Nexus resident made no comment about their plan. But Kellan knew, if he was going to run through the area on the map marked with a fucking skull, he was going to need every advantage he could get.

“Very well,” Xiang said.

“What?” Sen snapped. “My sister shouldn’t give up her advantage for this trash.”

Millie flinched at the term.

“What we need to do is—”

Xiang held up a hand, and her brother swallowed his tirade. She shook her head. “It wouldn’t look convincing if we didn’t try to keep our doll alive. Alex is correct. We should do what’s required to protect it.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Husker muttered. “We need our key as well.”

Mavis shook her head. “Listen, I’llgive up my burger. Our fearless leader can keep hers, and we’ll just make do, all right? Everyone, calm down.”

She handed over her burger wrapped in wax paper. Kellan—with one arm holding Millie—awkwardly packed it away in his backpack, along with his own burger. Since they only lasted fifteen minutes, he knew he couldn’t just eat them now.

“We’ll meet up at the goal,” Xiang said.

Mavis gave Kellan a sideways glance. “You better not get into too much trouble.”

“Oh, I’ll try,” Kellan quipped.

With that, Mavis and Xiang headed back through the food court, and toward the minigolf course. Hopefully, by turning around, no other teams would see them leave. And with their disguises, no one would bother them anyway.

Kellan, Sen, and Husker headed for the front of the mall. The other dolls watched them go from deep in their anti-magic cages, their eyes wide. Bitso stood among them, greeting new teams who ran into the mall from various locations.

“Greetings!” Bitso’s voice boomed over the food court. “You’ve made it to the doll selection phase. I guess you all aren’t the chumps I thought you were.”

Before they left the mall, Kellan glanced around for a quick and easy shop. He found a knickknack place near the front door, and he slid inside. He went straight for the register and grabbed an assortment of items. Pens, paper, measuring tape, keychains, and even a jacket. He threw it into his backpack, all with one hand, while Millie watched, her eyes wide, though she never questioned anything.

“What’re you doing?” Sen hissed from the front of the shop. “We need to go!”

Kellan nodded. Once his pack was full, they headed for the front of the mall. Husker held out a clawed hand.

“Do you want me to carry it?” the rennic asked.

Millie twisted her fingers into Kellan’s shirt.

“I’m fine,” Kellan stated. “Just focus on keeping us safe, all right?”

“As you wish.”

They exited the Heavenly Shopping Mall and headed out into the gigantic parking lot. Halfway across, and beyond two more Pestbyters, they exited the Oasis. Kellan breathed a bit easier without the odd restraining magic over his thoughts.

The sun rose in the sky, illuminating the whole city. The red Net still tainted everything in a horror show vibe, but Kellan felt a little more confident that their team could make it. He thought back to the map, and which roads they needed to take to avoid the fires and flooding. Kellan turned toward a road with multiple office buildings, his bootsteps echoing as he picked up the pace. Controlled breathing helped him maintain his pace, but he quickly realized that only Husker was managing to stay close.

Sen had fallen behind. The teen gulped down breath after breath, like he hadn’t ever run in his life.

Kellan slowed. The shadows of the tall five-story buildings shaded him and Husker as they waited for Sen to catch up. The nearby trees rustled with the breeze, and Millie shivered.

Kellan was about to ask Husker to just carry Sen so that they continue, but a terrible chill washed over him. A slimy feeling ran down his spine. Kellan had felt this before, but only with people who had taken multiple hexes… The corrupted magic of the hexes seemed to alter their magic in a way he could feel.

With his breath held, Kellan turned around.

Someone stood in the middle of the road just a few hundred feet away. The man wore a sturdy suit of futuristic armor, the type that completely covered the individual. The black shine of the metal, and the reflective mirror of the visor on the helmet, would’ve prevented most people from identifying the individual.

But Kellan wasn’t like most people.

His eyes gave away everything—but even then, Kellan knew who this was.

Brenner Hawke, of Team 42.

Name:Brenner Hawke, Traitor to Humanity

Race:Human

Magics:Body, Metal, Entropy, Travel, Meta

Rank: A, S, S, A, D

Armor Rating: 15 + 10 Shielding [Metallic]

Health:55/55 [Cyborg-Enhanced]

Stats:

Strength—20 [Cyborg-Enhanced, Iron Grip]

Dexterity—18 [Cyborg-Enhanced, Pinpoint Accuracy]

Fortitude—20 [Cyborg-Enhanced, Tireless]

Charisma—5 [Controlling]

Manipulation—11 [Dark, Occult]

Intelligence—8

Perception—14 [Cyborg-Enhanced, Keen-Sighted]

Wisdom—6

Willpower—6 [Ambitious, Nightmares]

Abilities:

Personal—[Overconfident]—The mage can never hide their basic information, but if they are ever in combat with an enemy mage who does, this mage’s physical stats (strength, dexterity, fortitude) are doubled.

Hex—[Wielder of Arondight]—The mage is capable of wielding the legendary laser sword, Arondight. As punishment, the mage must kill one member of a sentient race every seven days (the counter starting after each death), or the wielder dies.

Hex—[Apex Growth]—The mage gains double the arcana from all his kills. As punishment, the mage suffers from mana burn (mana use burns them, dealing damage equal to mana spent).

Hex—[Exarch’s Power]—The mage gains an immunity to a magical energy type (fire, ice, lightning, laser, phantasmal, entropy, or phase) and becomes immune to all mana burn effects. As punishment, the mage’s permanent mana pool is cut in half every time they rank to S in a magic. If the mage ever drops below 20 permanent mana, they die.

Hex—[Connected to the Sea of Chaos]—The mage’s mana pool is doubled, and they gain access to the unknowable magics, capable of ranking them as any other. As punishment, the mage’s soul cracks each time they use a C rank or higher power (and after an unspecified number of cracks, the mage’s soul shatters, killing them).

Hex—[Trickster’s Bane]—The mage is aware whenever there’s an illusion or invisibility in use within 250 feet of him. This detection is always in effect, acting as a “sixth sense” and always triggers no matter the rank of the obfuscation, including beyond M. As punishment, the mage suffers from nightmares and only sleeps half the normal amount, losing natural mana regeneration, and halving their willpower.

Hex—[Infinite Use]—The mage may pick a single power or ability that has a mana activation cost. That power or ability no longer costs the mage mana. As punishment, the mage picks an energy type (fire, ice, lightning, laser, phantasmal, entropy, or phase) and becomes weak to it, taking double damage from all sources.

Just my goddamn luck.

The last two hexes were new, and Kellan suddenly understood what Ysa had been alluding to. Brenner Hawke, the madman of Team 42, would now know whenever they were illusioned. Even if he wasn’t seeing through the illusion, or spotting someone who was invisible, he would know that it was nearby.

Brenner held out his hand. His shadow stretched out, just like when someone summoned their familiar, and his laser sword flew up from the depths and went straight into his hand. He gripped the hilt, turned the blade, and the edge crackled to life, like hot plasma.

“These ones are illusioned, too,” Brenner said, his voice machine-like as it filtered through the helmet of his power armor. “I don’t know who they are, but let’s just be safe.”

“What if one of them is Xiang?” a disembodied voice called out.

“If she’s here, she’ll reveal herself. Otherwise, kill the lot of them.”

Kellan wasn’t sure who Brenner had given orders to, but he already knew it was too late.

Glints of stars appeared overhead. A whole night sky’s worth of twinkling dots.

They grew larger and larger, and pulsed with an inner power. The swell of magic in the area grew intense.

Then the “stars” fell straight down to the ground, each a powerful laser blast that practically demolished everything in its path. The lasers rained down on the street with the intensity of a meteor shower.

A second later, the whole street was covered in an orb of darkness—a bubble of pitch black, to steal everyone’s sight.

The falling lasers flashed through the void, creating a strobe effect while simultaneously destroying the sidewalk, the nearby trees, the front of multiple buildings, and even the streetlights and manhole covers. It was a combination of light show andcarpet bombing the likes of which Kellan had never experienced.

A shimmering pinkish barrier went up around Kellan.

He managed to spend a mana to activate his armor right before he was struck with the lasers, the beam of light cutting through his clothing and flesh.

[Sun Sen] used Shield Coterie on [Alex Kellan], reducing the next AOE attack’s damage by 90%.

[Alex Kellan] uses Hammer of God Barrage and AOE strikes [Alex Kellan], dealing 30 damage to everything in range.

[Alex Kellan] reduces damage of each hit equal to his armor rating of 4 (armor + Void Knight darkness bonus).

[Alex Kellan]’s shadow shell cannot absorb laser damage.

[Alex Kellan] suffers a total of 0 damage.

The notifications that Kellan received told him that Alternate-Kellan was here—the one raining down destruction all around them. The orb of darkness had likely come from Ysa, who was a master of the shadows.

And while Kellan hadn’t taken any damage from the massive storm of laser beams, he knew that wouldn’t always be the case. If Sen ever failed to shield Kellan from the hail of lasers, Kellan was sure he would probably die from the attack…

Which meant they had to take cover.

The orb of darkness robbed everyone of their sight but Kellan. As a matter of fact, it activated his Void Knightpower, granting him additional physical strength. Between the blasts of lasers, Kellan leapt to the side with enough power and speed that he effortlessly flew through a window, shattering through glass and landing inside an office building.

Millie, who had been hurt in the attack, and slashed by the some of the glass, trembled in his arms.

Kellan used one mana and healed her of three damage. She was still injured, despite that. Then he set her down behind a desk, leapt back out into the street, and grabbed Sen. He moved at such speed he was surprising himself. His thoughts almost couldn’t keep up with the ridiculous movements his body was now capable of.

But Brenner Hawke also had those capabilities—and more.

The lunatic man blasted forward into the orb of darkness. He swung his sword as he went, slashing everything he touched, including a devastated tree and streetlamp.

“Look out!” Sen shouted.

Brenner was on top of them before Kellan could bend his knees to jump again. He slashed with his sword, cutting through part of Kellan’s arm, the laser blade burning flesh as it went.

With gritted teeth, Kellan managed to slightly pivot on his heel, moving just enough to save his arm from being cut clean off. Sen’s magical barrier shimmered to life as well.

[Sun Sen] used Shield Ally on [Alex Kellan], reducing the next attack’s damage by 90%.

[Brenner Hawke] slashes [Alex Kellan], dealing 25 damage.

[Alex Kellan] reduces damage of each hit equal to his armor rating of 4 (armor + Void Knight darkness bonus), but Arondight ignores 10 points of armor rating.

[Alex Kellan]’s shadow shell cannot absorb laser damage.

[Alex Kellan] suffers a total of 3 damage.

[Tyranny Worms] restore [Alex Kellan] for 1 damage every 6 seconds.

Kellan only had seven health. The writhing worms in his body did everything in their power to stitch his flesh together, healing him of the damage, but they weren’t enough to combat Brenner’s insane speeds and Alternate-Kellan’s Area of Effect attack.

His low health was rapidly becoming the worst problem Kellan had to deal with.

He dove for the office building, leaping through the same shattered window and rolling across the office floor, his heightened dexterity making the landing easy. Sen clung to him—even as a teen—like Kellan was his personal safety vest.

Kellan wasn’t sure what he was going to do about Husker. The rennic threw off his coat, howled, and then lunged for Brenner. Xiang had illusioned him, but the clink of his chains could still be heard through the devastation of the street.

“We need to get out of here,” Sen shouted, his tone bordering on hysterical.

The lasers slammed through part of the office building, destroying the roof, front of the building, and multiple desks. The lasers didn’t have much impact—they were just light—but everything crumbled, and some things caught fire. The lasers came straight down from the sky, as though from a satellite, though Kellan knew nothing could come through the Net.

This was just a high-rank eclipse or metal ability, the only two magics with lasers.

Kellan staggered away from the front of the building, but more and more laser blasts continued to hail down around them.

Alternate-Kellan’s attack radius was so huge, Kellan would have to book a flight just to get out of it. Thankfully, the laser blasts came in waves. They had a few moments to deal with the situation.

The shadows in the building moved and twisted. Physical tentacles made of darkness rose up all around them. The tendrils lashed out, knocking over desks, crushing chairs, and shattering windows. The manic laugh of Ysa bounced off the walls all around them.

“Come out, whoever you are! Time’s up for you and your pathetic team.”

Her delight soaked every word.

Dust and debris hung in the air from the vast amount of devastation. Husker fought for his life in the street. Without much time to dwell on the situation, Kellan knew if they were going to live, it came down to his next couple actions.

—Chapter 25—

—Hunted like Dogs—

Although Kellan hated the thought of leaving Husker to deal with most of Team 42 on his own, that wasHusker’s designated role. He had his own hex—perhaps he could win against Brenner.

But Kellan couldn’t worry about that. With his enhanced strength and speed, he rushed over to Millie, shoved the desk out of the way, threw her over his shoulder and ran deeper into the office building.

Kellan didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t care. He needed to get out of the Hammer of God Barrage, and he needed to get as far away from Brenner as he possibly could.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t move through the darkness while holding others—a fact he loathed—so he kept to the hallways of the building, running as fast as his body would allow. Sen and Millie both held on to his body and clothes, their fingernails digging into his flesh, causing him to bleed for a moment before the Tyranny Worms patched everything up.

The second he exited the orb of darkness—and the lights of the office building washed down around him—Kellan lost access to his physical enhancements. He slowed, his chest burning from the lack of oxygen, and his legs stiff from the overexertion.

Kellan spent a single mana—he was down to nine—and activated his Ignore Pain to fight through any sort of ache that would attempt to slow him. Pushing forward, he ran at a slower pace, but still managed a good clip.

Dark tentacles rose from the shadows in the corners. They attempted to grab him—to hold him down and bind him—but once again, his Void Knight ability came in handy. It prevented the shadows from taking hold.

But his eclipse powers didn’t extend to Sen and Millie. The darkness snatched the deformed woman, the shadow tentacles grabbing around her thin waist and yanking hard.

Kellan wheeled on his heel and held out his hand. A blast of laser erupted from his palm and disintegrated the shadowy tentacle, reducing his mana to eight. Millie collapsed to the floor, shaking.

“Oh, Arbiter, please have mercy,” she frantically whispered to herself. “What have I done to anger you?” She kept her eyes tightly closed, unwilling or unable to watch the fight happening around her.

Ysa leapt out of the shadows.

Kellan hadn’t been prepared.

She slashed with a dagger, the blade extending as she struck—the darkness literally coalescing onto the edge of the weapon and striking on its own. The blade sliced into his gut. After the reduction of his armor and shadow shell, he still took five damage, his blood splattering across the hall walls and on the floor.

Worms infested all his vital fluids. Yellow and spaghetti-like, they writhed around, looking for flesh and finding none.

“Goddammit, I need your help,” Kellan said through gritted teeth, frustrated Sen hadn’t used his Shield Ally ability for the strike.

Then he shoved Sen off his shoulder and blasted another beam of light. Ysa leapt into the darkness, dodging his attack.

Kellan had seven mana remaining.

Confused—and certain Ysa would return for another strike with her shadow dagger—Kellan glanced around. He activated his Mold Metal power, grabbed the handle of a nearby office door, and tore it off. The metal acted like putty in his hand, but the moment he let go of it, the metal would return to its stiff and durable consistency.

Six mana remaining.

Ysa had targeted Millie first. She had been trying to destroy the doll.

Kellan jumped to stand over Millie. When the shadows moved, he was ready. Ysa leapt out of the darkness, her blade in hand. Kellan stepped into her attack. Sen’s magical barrier shimmered into existence just before the blade went into Kellan’s flesh. And then, while Kellan was close, he took the metal of the door handle and slammed it across Ysa’s eyes.

The twisted bits of brass dug into the soft bits of her eyes, and then hooked into the eye sockets. When Kellan removed his hand, the metal was fixed there, blinding her, and sending her into a panic.

Ysa screamed and leapt away. She dove back into the shadows and exited a few feet away, clawing at her face. She couldn’t rip the metal off, though. Not without dealing more damage to herself.

With her distracted, Kellan grabbed Millie and then ran back to Sen. He grabbed the teenager’s arm and kept running, desperate to get out of Ysa’s hearing range and look for an exit.

The building shook from a powerful tremor, but then things went still. Kellan swallowed air as he pushed himself to run. He slammed through a door, and then another. He molded the handles of doors that were locked and just raced through the office building, barely paying attention to his route, simply searching for an exit sign.

Sen grabbed him, and the warmth of healing flooded Kellan’s injured body. The Tyranny Worms had been slowly mending everything, but Sen’s body magic made the process instant.

“Your blood,” Sen said between huffs. “It would… lead them to us…”

When Kellan glanced back, he realized Sen had a point. He had left a small trail of blood splatters as he ran. Now that he was healed, it wasn’t as much of an issue, but Team 42 would still follow them halfway through the building.

Finally, he found an exit.

Kellan slammed out the door and into the street of the bizarre town. TVs mounted into the sidewalk and the sides of the building were all on and playing the clown show. Without much time to analyze every possibility answer, Kellan dashed forward and went for another alleyway.

An explosion of glass caused him to duck behind a dumpster. Shards of window clattered into the alleyway. The dumpster shielded Kellan, Millie, and Sen from the devastation.

“Oh, Arbiter, please have mercy,” Millie whispered to herself, her face buried in Kellan’s shoulder. “What have I done to anger you?”

Sen gulped down his breath, his eyes wide. He sat on the ground, his back to the dumpster, his gaze unfocused. “What’re we going to do? What’re we—”

Kellan slammed a hand over Sen’s mouth. Then he tightened his grip on Millie and whispered, “Quiet. All of you.”

More shattered glass. Another explosion. Something was happening in the building.

“Come back here!” Ysa screeched. She stomped into the street, her boots crushing glass as she went. “You fuckers are dead once I find you!”

One of Kellan’s survival courses had involved a segment on tracking down individuals. The number one way someone messed up their chances of escape was deciding to hide. Most hiding places weren’t ingenious—the dumpster was far from a good spot—and if Ysa did search, she’d likely find them.

Kellan tapped Sen on the shoulder. Then he placed a finger to his mouth. Together, they quietly made their way down the alleyway. At one point, Sen almost stepped on a pile of glass shards, but Kellan yanked him back and pointed to the ground. Sen nodded. His clothes had been burned by the laser attack, and his body carried several injuries, mostly burns. And unlike Kellan, Sen’s wounds weren’t slowly healing on their own.

The queen worm doesn’t keep him alive like the others?

Kellan shook his head. He stayed focused on the alleyway, and jerked Sen to the side the moment they were out. Making his way through the shadows, he dragged Sen and Millie across the street, and then ducked into another building.

A hotel.

The front entrance room was massive and open—everything Kellan hated. He ran for the receptionist’s desk and ducked behind it. As he headed for a door, the glass of the front windows blew inward from a massive release of pressure.

Kellan’s ears practically exploded. He clenched his jaw, unable to hear anything other than a constant ringing. He fell to the floor on one knee, a rivulet of blood trailing from his ear down his neck.

Goddammit.
 Sen placed a hand on Kellan’s neck. The warmth of Sen’s healing repaired everything. Kellan could hear, his thoughts weren’t buzzing, and he managed to get back to his feet.

Millie, on the other hand, sobbed a bit, blood now staining her odd hair and designer clothing.

Kellan touched the side of her face and used his Heal the Body ability. He repaired what damage had been done by the concussion blast. She glanced up at him, tears in her eyes. Kellan hated seeing civilians caught up in war zones, and everything about Millie reminded him of that.

“Everything will be okay,” he said, forceful and confident. “Just close your eyes. It’ll all be over soon.”

Millie replied by simply tightening her grip on his ruined shirt.

Kellan had five mana remaining.

Sen shot him a dark glower, but it didn’t last long. He shook, clearly disturbed by the events unfolding, but he didn’t object to Kellan’s statements.

Debris and dust washed through the hotel. Kellan shielded his eyes. The stomp of boots on glass caught his attention, and he ducked low to the ground, dragging Sen along with him.

“They’re somewhere here,” Ysa said, her shrill voice hard to mistake.

A growl answered her. No words, just a guttural noise.

“Blast this area,” she shouted. “Blast it like you did all the others!”

She was far enough away that the sound of her voice wasn’t as clear. Was she just outside the hotel? Kellan suspected so.

Another growl answered her, this one shorter and angrier.

Other-Kellan didn’t respond with words—it had to be him. The tone of his growl was raspy and broken, like it was painful to even voice that much. Kellan wondered if he was also signing something. Xiang had said Other-Kellan knew how—but did Ysa? Kellan suspected the woman barely knew how to read.

“You’re out of mana already?” Ysa scoffed. “That Hammer of God Barrage isn’t useful against, like, three assholes. We should’ve saved that for multiple teams at once! If you don’t have any mana left, what good are you to me? Go get a glintberry potion from Brenner!”

Kellan glanced around the receptionist’s desk.

The nearby shadows, outside and inside the hotel, shifted and flickered. Were they searching for Kellan? It seemed as if they were semi-sentient, checking under coffee tables and chairs, and sifting through the wreckage of the buildings.

Knowing he had to move, Kellan crouch-walked forward. He managed to open a door and slide through, but he wasn’t sure if Ysa would see something so blatant. As soon as he was on the other side of the door, he stood and ran. Sen tried to keep up, but his shaky legs weren’t up to the task.

Kellan stopped in an employee’s lounge and waited. After a few deep breaths, Sen caught up to him.

“Is she following?” Kellan quickly asked.

“I don’t know,” Sen whispered.

“Do you know if Husker is all right?”

Sen shook his head.

Frustrated, and out of options, Kellan decided to keep moving. He turned for a door he thought would lead to an exit. Without much thought, he opened it and ran through.

Only to find himself in a bizarre room.

He froze, stunned by the white walls, ivory carpet, and stark black furniture. It felt like he had walked into a black-and-white movie, as the whole room was devoid of color.

“What the?”

Sen ran in after, and the door slammed shut.

A single desk in the middle of the room—just as black as the chairs, bookshelf, and couch—had a single sheet of white paper on top of it. A tiny creature sat in the swivel chair behind the desk. It was no more than a foot tall, humanoid in shape, and had black skin and a tiny bat-like wings.

The little horns on its head were curved in a semi-circle, similar to a goat’s.

It was an imp.

And it wore a tiny suit the same shade of white as the walls.

Name:Puzzle Imp #10

Race:Semi-Sentient Construct

Magics:Mind, Travel

Rank:Impossible to Rank

Armor Rating: ---

Health:2/2

Stats:Concealed

Abilities:Concealed

“Hello, there,” the imp said, its voice a chipmunk parody. “Congratulations, you found a Puzzle Room! The Arbiter hides these around the game zones and—”

Sen whirled around and grabbed at the door handle. He shook the door and pulled, but the door refused to open. With ever-increasing panic, Sen jiggled the handle. “We’re trapped.”

Kellan turned around, pushed Sen aside, and grabbed the handle. His Mold Metal should’ve allowed him to effortlessly escape, but the bluish-black handle was made out of the same anti-magic the doll cages had been.

The puzzle imp frowned. “You can’t leave.”

“Can other people come in?” Kellan asked as he turned back around.

“Wow. You guys are weird. Most people have other questions.” The imp tapped its little fingers on the desk. “Yes. Other people can come in here.”

“And you said we can’t leave?”

“Not until you solve the puzzle or give up.”

“We give up,” Kellan immediately stated. “Now let us out of the room.”

They couldn’t afford to be stuckin a room when Ysa, Other-Kellan, and Brenner were actively searching for them. What if those lunatics entered the Puzzle Room with them? It would turn into a bloodbath. The room was only twelve feet by twelve feet. It would be like having a gun fight in a phone booth.

The imp smiled wide, all its teeth pointed and needle-like. “Oh, well, if you give up, the price of failure is exactly one death. So, which of you will die as punishment for failing to solve the puzzle?”

“What?” Kellan balked.

“Uh, I don’t think I can be any clearer.” The imp sighed. “If you give up, someone has to die. If you win, you get a prize. Easy-peazy-lemon-squeezy.”

Goddammit.

“Okay, fine—what’s the puzzle?” Kellan asked.

Sen didn’t even bother engaging. He shook the door handle again, and even tugged on it harder, like he might be able to break it down if he strained hard enough. Kellan knew that wasn’t going to work. The Arbiter always had weird restrictions in rooms like these—Kellan had already been in a Prize Room and a Trap Room. If they wanted to leave, they just had to deal with the puzzle.

“Quickly,” Kellan growled. “What is it?”

The imp pushed the single piece of paper forward. With a wicked grin, it said, “It’s a simple puzzle. Turn this paper into gold. Once you’ve done that, I’ll reward you with a prize.”

—Chapter 26—

—Puzzle Room—

Kellan had been expecting a Lord of the Rings style puzzle, or something similar to riddle in the Catacomb Maze. How was he supposed to transform a piece of paper into gold? Was that even fair?

With quick movements, Kellan set Millie down on the floor. She watched as Kellan approached the black desk and grabbed the single sheet of paper. It was thin and flimsy.

Kellan turned it over.

Blank on both sides.

“Can I… have a pen?” Kellan asked.

The little imp scrunched its face in disgust. “Are you touched in the head? What will a pen do for you?”

“I… I don’t know. I just figured it was part of the puzzle.”

“I can assure, it’s not.”

Kellan scratched at the side of his head. His first thought, since it was a riddle, was to fold the paper into something. But how could he fold it into gold? A bird, sure. A star, definitely. But gold?

“Is there a magical ability in one of the spheres of magics that turns objects into gold?” Kellan asked, genuine in all regards. He didn’t know all the magics well enough. Could metalmagic somehow be linked to alchemy?

“There’s no ability like that,” the imp said matter-of-factly. “There’s a travel magic power that allows mages to pull something into this dimension from another dimension—and maybe that can be gold—but it doesn’t transform anything.” With a tiny, clawed hand, the imp motioned to the paper. “You need to change that paper into gold, not just make gold appear.”

Sen shook the door handle harder. “This is inane!” he finally shouted. He turned around, his breaths shallow. “We don’t have time for this.”

“Team 42 might not come looking in this room,” Kellan stated. “Calm down.”

“You don’t understand. Puzzle Rooms will kill you if you take too long. They, themselves, are traps. You might not see it now, but that’s how Xiang’s mother lost the first member of her team.”

Xiang’s mother?

It took Kellan a moment to remember they were half-siblings. Different mothers, same father.

He shook the thought from his head. “I don’t care. Just help me solve this.”

Sen glanced over at the imp. “You said a death is payment enough for leaving?”

“That’s right,” the imp replied in a cheery, chipmunk tone.

“It doesn’t have to be a mage? It doesn’t have to be someone on our team?”

“Nope.”

Sen motioned over to Millie. “Good. Let’s get rid of the doll and get out of here.”

Before Kellan could open his mouth and voice a complaint, the room rumbled. He tensed and whirled around, his rifle in his hands through reflex. But there weren’t any enemies.

The walls…

And the ceiling…

Kellan’s eyes widened as he realized they were slowly collapsing in on themselves. The room had been twelve feet by twelve feet, but now it was smaller, and shrinking at a noticeable rate. By Kellan’s calculations, they had less than two minutes to solve the puzzle, or else they’d all be crushed.

“Once the door vanishes, you’re gonna lose the option to surrender,” the imp said, pointing to the door on the far wall. It slid down, slowly lowering into the floor as the ceiling came down by itself. They had less than a minute before the door would disappear.

“We can’t turn paper into gold,” Sen stated. “Just kill the doll.”

Millie trembled, her saggy and deformed skin pale with fright. She clasped her hands together, shaking so bad, Kellan suspected she’d fall over.

“Why are you hesitating?” Sen waved his arm around. “This is why we never should’ve learned its name! We have to do whatever it takes to win! You’ve grown too attached. Kill it, or else—”

Kellan grabbed Sen by the front of his illusioned hoodie. Fueled by rage, but tempered by years of training, Kellan jerked Sen closer and twisted his grip, constricting the collar around Sen’s neck.

“I’m not going to kill an innocent civilian just because it’s convenient.” As Sen tried to grunt out an answer, Kellan slammed the teen back against the wall. “And if you try to force me, I promise I’ll burn this whole goddamn team to the ground.” Then Kellan released him.

Sen rubbed his shoulders.

Millie watched the entire confrontation with wide eyes.

The imp leaned his chin into one hand, his eyes half-lidded in obvious boredom.

The low volume scrape of the walls and ceiling sliding closer and closer was the only sound in the room.

Sen glared up at Kellan. “You’re willing to die for things like… honor and compassion?”

“Those are some of the few things worthdying for,” Kellan stated. “And I don’t care how crazy this shitshow gets, I refuse to believe anything else.”

“What an idiot,” the imp said with a snicker.

Kellan snapped his glare over to the tiny imp. “What did you say about surrendering? We have to pay with a death? Doesn’t matter which of us?”

The imp yawned and stretched his little wings. “That’s right.”

“Then we surrender.”

“Oh? And who will—”

Kellan lifted his rifle and shot the imp square in its tiny face. The creature had two health, and Kellan did way more than two damage. Its brains splattered over the chair, the floor, and the back wall, the blood a mix of black and red.

Millie gasped and flinched.

“You shot it,” Sen said, breathless.

The walls and ceiling stopped their death march. Kellan lowered his weapon, thankful that hadn’t backfired on him. He said any death would do, Kellan mused to himself. I guess the Nexus Games really doesn’t give a shit about the people who work it.

“You just gave me an impassioned speech about not killing the innocent!” Sen scoffed and flailed his arm at the dead body of the imp. “You blew that creature’s brains out, and you didn’t even care!”

“He wasn’t innocent.” Kellan turned to Millie and scooped the woman up in his arms. She leaned into him, her hands gently gripping his shirt. “That imp was going to kill us, and he probably would’ve laughed about it the entire way, too.”

Sen grabbed the door and shoved it open. He smirked as he stepped outside. “So, the servants of the Arbiter don’t deserve your mercy?”

“Not when they’re trying to kill me. That’s the fucking line. I think it’s a reasonable one.”

Kellan dove out of the puzzle room and ran across the employee lounge of the hotel. The shadows weren’t moving, but distant explosions told him that Ysa was still nearby. He went in the opposite direction of the noise and headed for a long hallway. Sen kept pace, still muttering statements of baffled disbelief.

When Kellan reached an emergency exit, he kicked it outward and then jogged out into a service alleyway. Damaged trucks clogged the space between two buildings, like they had all piled up and crashed trying to deliver goods. The twisted trucks were smashed together from wall to wall, piled ten feet high.

Sen examined the wreckage with a long exhale.

Another explosion—this one closer than the last—told Kellan that Ysa was systematically destroying the area.

That twisted bitch.

The hotel shook, and bits of the trucks and buildings rained down around them. Kellan shielded Millie as best he could while dodging the debris. Coughing back the dust, Kellan tried to think of some sort of magical way to solve their problem, but he couldn’t think of anything. He didn’t have that many powers.

Sen wheezed and then shook his head. “This way.” He motioned to the alleyway behind them. He jogged a few feet and then turned around. “What’re you waiting for?”

“You’re heading toward the destruction,” Kellan stated.

“I know. But I have a soul ability that allows me to sense magic. There’s a swell of it near here. And also, a knot of corrupted magic—I suspect from Brenner and Husker, since both of them carry hexes.”

Determined to live through the godforsaken game, Kellan exhaled as he turned around. He ran through the clouds of dust and followed Sen. Xiang’s illusions maintained, giving them the façade of bikers, but Kellan could only see the scrawny teen version of Sen in his mind. Could Sen be trusted to lead them away from danger?

Once out of the alleyway, Sen took a hard left. He kept his head down as he sprinted forward, clearly trying to keep a low profile while running. Kellan also turned left, but he glanced around, taking stock of their surroundings.

Ysa stood in the middle of a four-way intersection, her attention on a nearby building, her back to Kellan. She glanced around, which meant the metal was likely out of her eyes. There were other people in the building—another team? She waved her hand, and shadows leapt to answer her bidding.

Unfortunately, the shadows around Sen and Kellan also sprang to life. Kellan dodged out of the way, careful not to touch any of the dark tentacles, but Sen wasn’t as dexterous. The shadow tendrils slammed into him, and he collapsed to the road.

Ysa could obviously sense whatever her shadows touched, because the moment she struck Sen, she whirled around on her heel. With a smile, she shouted, “Alex! I found them!”

Kellan set Millie down and readied himself for an attack, his heart hammering around in his insides. What was he supposed to do? He was halfway out of mana and running out of tricks. Ysa and Other-Kellan could obviously deal an insane amount of damage.

But as Ysa ran in their direction, snickering to herself, someone leapt out of the nearby building. They crashed through a window, sending glass cascading down to the street in a hail of deadly shards. The person who landed did so with a superhero’s grace.

Kellan recognized the new man. He was about Kellan’s height, with short crew-cut dark hair. And he, too, wore an outfit suited for a biker. Leather jacket, jeans, white T-shirt—like he had just exited a biker bar for motorcycle enthusiasts.

The man’s right eye…

It was a machine. Like a high-definition camera but glowing in the center with a soft blue light.

Name:Concealed

Race:Concealed

Magics:Concealed

Rank:Concealed

Armor Rating: Concealed

Health:Concealed

Stats:Concealed

Abilities:Concealed

Kellan shook away the useless information.

That was Jace Kellan, of Team 77, the son of Other-Kellan, and an enigmatic player in the Nexus Games who had both helped and hindered Kellan’s games. He had also given Kellan his dog tags…

Jace stood and brushed himself off. He flashed Ysa a smile. “Where are you going? I thought you said you wanted to duke this out?”

Ysa glanced between Kellan and Jace, her lips twisted in a snarl. In the distance, a battle raged. The ground shook, and more explosions could be heard. Was it Brenner and Husker? Kellan couldn’t see beyond the many office buildings and hotels.

Ysa must’ve felt the electric urgency I the air as well. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other before finally smiling. “You better be careful, boy. Your father is due to come back any minute.”

“I’m counting on it,” Jace said, his machine eye glowing a brighter blue. “After all the mana he’s been using, and all the mages your team has been fighting, I think this’ll be an easy kill.”

“That’s what they all say,” Ysa replied with a laugh. Then dark energy pulsed off her arm, like a snake forming out of pure magic and wrapping around her limb. “But you haven’t seen anything yet!”

She waved her arm, and the deadly energies slithered off her body and washed out into the surrounding area. Everything her magic touched rotted and wilted, as though rapidly advancing in age. The sidewalks crumbled to dust, the wrecked cars rusted and twisted inward, and the asphalt cracked and decayed.

When it hit Jace, he gritted his teeth and cursed. His clothing slowly paled and unraveled, and his skin withered and aged.

The pulse of rotting magic headed in Kellan’s direction.

Sen staggered to his feet. “Run!Don’t let it touch you!”

Not wanting to argue, Kellan dashed over to Millie, scooped her back up, and then ran down the road. All three of them managed to shove their way into the front door of a local restaurant before the rotting magic took hold. Safe inside the building as the wave of corrosive magic washed across the street, Kellan took a deep breath.

Once again, he set Millie down, not wanting to be encumbered by her weight if a fight broke loose.

“That was rot?” he asked.

Sen nodded. “Ysa is a powerful entropy mage.”

Kellan turned his attention to the window. It slowly decayed into a pile of sand. Once it had aged away, the rotting stopped. The destruction wouldn’t continue to spread forever, it seemed.

But Kellan’s thoughts went immediately to Jace. Although the man wasn’t really related to Kellan—since Jace hailed from a different dimension entirely—there was still a slight connection Kellan couldn’t deny. Jace could be his brother, they looked so similar.

With a sigh, Kellan reached into his backpack and withdrew one of their three moss burgers.

He glanced over the sand-covered windowsill. Jace fought Ysa in the street, her rot causing him to boil and bleed. His magic clearly fought against the decay. His clothing mostly lost the war—his jacket, boots, and belt became moth-bitten rags. His shirt and pants weren’t really affected, however. Kellan wasn’t sure why.

“I’ll be right back,” Kellan muttered.

Sen turned to him and frowned. “You’re not going to help that man, are you?”

“I think I owe it to him.”

“He’s…” Sen ran a hand down his face and shook his head. “You know what? Never mind. Just get this out of your system and tell me when you’re ready to keep moving. I’ll watch our doll.”

Kellan patted the other man on the back and chuckled. “Good. I’ll be right back. Get ready to run.”