The cat, Deliala, hissed loudly in disgust at the man. It struggled out of Allison’s arms, limping into the center of the hall fangs bared. Its large size might be imposing to a similarly sized small dog but posed little effect to the monstrous mayor.

  “What is with these children? Do none of you have anywhere better to be?”

  The Mayor's skull had recovered during the fighting. Allison was whipped into a panic, hyperventilating. Karah was torn on what she should do. If he attempted to take Allison hostage she wouldn’t be able to stop him. If he used it as a feint he could take any of the children instead. Sweat dripped down her face.

  Why wasn’t Nate here? He could have solved this, he was the one who should be here. Such thoughts flooded Karah, the stress getting to her. The Mayor dodged back and forth, wavering between who he might attack. Just as he was about to act, a voice stopped him in place.

  “Father please. Stop this, whatever your goal is isn’t here.”

  Mandy had returned back along with Dr.Mei. Her husband must have been stabilized but the lack of support meant he was still likely down for the count. Neither of their arrivals were welcome by Karah. It was hard enough to protect the children. With two more that just meant more targets to cloud her judgment.

  “If it isn’t my runt. No, I guess the main house was begging me to send you over. Can’t call you a runt if they wanted you that much. If you had listened properly you would have been arriving just in time to take them out.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Did you think you were going to truly get to be some big shot at a university? I was going to ship you off to the main family house. Something about a son that needed a bride, it didn’t matter much. The bomb I was going to plant into you was the only thing that matters.”

  “You scumbag.” Mandy spoke in horror.

  “Mandy I hate you, but fuck I want to kill your dad.”

  “I think it would be for the best if you did so.” Mandy said.

  “You should thank me for what I’ve done for you. I have given you everything you ever wanted, ran this bitch out of town. Lot of good it did me. Can’t a father ask his daughter to kindly kill off his enemies?”

  “Only if her father deserves her assistance.”

  “Why you little bitch. Just like your mother, trying to shirk your duties. So ungrateful. Running away from everything that makes you worth anything. I should have killed you alongside her!”

  The Mayor faked a lunge toward their end of the hallway, twisting away when Karah sent an explosive kick after him. His body shifted rushing down the hall after Allison, she was the natural choice to capture. Just as he reached in front of the cat it swatted with its claw.

  The ground trembled and quaked. Waves rocked the earth and placed him off balance. From down the hall the resounding sound of a gun cut through the air. Three well placed shots plunged into the back of the Mayor's head. His body already off balance slammed face first once more into the ground.

  Karah was upon him before he could say or do anything more. A one two punch rendered him down into a portion of meat paste. Bones spread out cracked and shattered upon the ground.

  “Whhh what was…” Allison breathed out.

  She fell backward having hit the limit that she could handle. Karah stepped over the corpse grabbing her before she could hit the ground. Allison was taller than Karah as most were but the near emaciated figure was easy to pull into a princess carry. Out of everyone Dr.Mei was the first to reach the two of them. She knelt down worry spreading across her face.

  “How did she get here? He should have made sure to keep her isolated. Karah was it? Did he say if he was after anything?”

  Dr.Mei worriedly questioned Karah. She only had to think for a moment to shift through the fight to land on what it was that he’d come searching for. It had sounded like mad ramblings but she wasn’t paying much attention outside of the fight itself.

  “Corpse Vault, I think. Whatever it is, I hope you have it put away somewhere.”

  “Well, it will be safe now.”

  She gestured with her eyes down at Allison clutched within her arms. Confusion filled her face but it was replaced with shock in an instant. A clap of thunder sounded from the heavens above. Far louder and more resonant then anything they’d heard before. The ceiling crumbled and another boom split open the last vastatages of cement.

  Karah’s blood went cold as Nate’s body slammed into the ground below. Blood oozed from out around him, eyes cold. She couldn’t move, let alone speak.

  ***

  Nate had left Hercules, Kent, knocked unconscious. Finding the nearest window he peaked out to assess the situation. It did not look good for his master. The turbine that acted as his shield grew ever slower with each strike. He was sure that his master was powerful but that did not mean he was guaranteed success.

  He was split on if he should pursue the Mayor right away. No, he knew that Karah could handle it. She was his strongest card and he could still feel her over his bond. If she was in a real crisis he could head there right away. For now he placed his hope in her, there were other things to concern himself with.

  That man, no matter how much he hated him, was powerful. It only served to fuel his rage. If he only had a moment then he’d be able to attack. Unlike with the Poppet battle Lupita’s fangs could reach across the whole of the parking lot. He wavered there for a minute. It hadn’t been enough to kill Kent.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Would it be safe to use? He yearned for more fire power but that was out of reach. Magic circles had to be learned and none of his spirits matched what he would need. A trump card if there ever was one did not exist.

  “Lupita, do you think your ability would kill him?”

  “I could not be sure. If I was to guess it would at most wound him. He would surely have a protective spell akin to what Francis had.”

  “My thoughts exactly. Even if we can’t kill him, maybe we could weaken him. The staff, we could try to shatter it. If the barrier is localized then we could get rid of that. All those skulls are magic waiting to be cast.”

  “I am willing to try.”

  “I can help.”

  Boudica’s voice cut in as the two formed on either side of Nate. If he was just seeing them from where they were within himself or physically manifesting he couldn’t tell. The lines between his own spiritual world and that of reality were blurring.

  “How?” Nate asked.

  “My power strengthens items, but it varies depending on my own power and the quality of the item. What if I use my spell upon the wand then you go all out with Lupita’s?”

  “Oh, I didn’t know you could use it on magic items.” Lupita said.

  “Amazing work Boudica, that's just what we needed.”

  Boudica puffed her chest out proudly. Nate’s praise seemed to have an outsized effect on her. He still had much to learn about everyone. This was most apparent when it came to the two that he’d newly taken into his service. With any luck they would surprise him more in the future.

  “Let's do this.”

  Boudica wrapped the wand with her red tinged purple miasmic energy. As it filled the wand it let off a hazy light. Spiritual energy was the connections between contracts and souls. Magic was the phenomena made manifest. In that moment a strong pull was felt by Boudica on her Spiritual energy. Straining, she held onto the spell enveloping the wand.

  “Quickly sir, It’s bucking like the wildest of stallions.”

  Nate didn’t have to be told twice. He focused Lupita’s spell into the wand, her hand placed against his shoulder bracing him. They could both feel the wand attempting to reject the spiritual energy. The magic would be far stronger than it was meant to hold. If it was trying to prevent them from destroying it or whatever the backlash might be was a mystery.

  Outside Wayne’s plan to buy time had worked but not well enough. The secret of the ScrapCrow’s illusionary effects was revealed. He lacked his necessary tools but that would not last much longer. He smiled up at his enemy.

  “You may concede at any moment.” Wayne said.

  “I would rather die then let you win. The world needs those of greater purpose such as myself. Look at these worms that call themselves humans, do you not find them laughable? Clinging to the scraps of this world?”

  “You are the one who is clinging to scraps. I may be a Necromancer but that does not make you or I any less human.”

  “That is where you are wrong. We, or in this case I, am a god. We created this new world with its blackened skies and spirit fields. You must know the crimes that the Grandmaster has commited, there is little he did not help create.”

  “We all have sinned.”

  “And from that sin we shall rise. The old gods are long dead, it is time for the new gods to rise.”

  “You, there are more of you?”

  “Did you think I was here for a petty grudge? There was much that the Grandmaster had that I needed to complete my form. It is a shame, She?, will have to bear witness from death's embrace.”

  “What did you…”

  Wayne was cut off as a frenzied fanged maw wretched itself open. With a deafening strike its jaws closed not onto Zeus as Wayne had expected but his staff. The walls of his protection magic were weakest there so as to not obstruct his spiritual energies circulation to the minor Oni skulls. He could only generate lightning of such intensity via the combination of the three.

  One such skull fell victim to the sudden attack. He had been circulating a mass of energy between the three skulls and as it was rendered into small fragments it backfired. The circulation should have been completely safe but that was only in the case of them being undamaged.

  Deafening claps of thunder resounded as lightning exploded out from the staff. It was split in twain cast away from his hand as the world was bathed in white. Wayne and any other onlookers guarded their eyes. For a moment a light more intense than the sun blazed and then faded.

  Once the light faded Nate looked out. Lupita and Boudica cancelled their spells neither being hurt or in poor condition. They appeared taxed from the ordeal but already recovering. Nate watched in bated breath. The effect had been much greater than he’d expected.

  Zeus was knelt on his knees, lighting still flickering about his body. His clothes and body were blackened. Nate did not hold his breath at the damage. Having recovered from a gunshot wound himself, he doubted what he’d done would be enough. Yet, somewhere deep inside he hoped it had killed him.

  The chorus of thundering hooves struck out from the silence that had been left behind by the explosion. Nate could now clearly see Jeb’s face as the corpse golem charged toward the building. Their cover was blown but they did not have the time to do anything about it.

  The lighting surrounding Zeus' body flickered off twisting and turning. It reached out to Chiron, imbuing the corpse with the volatility of the power. Its charge became a flash of light as it blew the wall away. Boudica in that moment materialized within the real world. This was no half state like during the wand charging.

  Purple fluid ran out it was near instant but even that was too slow. Managing only to form a front facing shield before they were blown away. The ground gave out below them as they weren’t sent cascading through the floor. As they fell she wrapped Nate into a tight hug. Her body turned into the purple fluid as he made contact with cement.

  Her form was able to protect him just long enough for them to break through into the basement. Any longer she would have faded back to the spirit house and Nate would then die smashed into the cement floor.

  Nate’s consciousness faded in and out as he fell backwards. When he opened his eyes he was surprised to see nothing that resembled a hospital. He had a feeling he knew whose work it might be but could not confirm.

  As far as the eye could see the valley was filled with thorn wood trees. They snaked and poked at the sky. His own body lay in a circle of greenery. He sat up and felt no pain. Having traveled in his mind to the spirit house many times he had the feeling it was a similar space.

  “Where am I?”

  “Fear not Nate of the family Cotton. I have called you here. Though our time shall be limited.”

  Nate turned away from his vantage point that overlooked the valley to gaze up at the being that spoke to him. It was of massive size as it gazed down at him. Its head blocked out the sky as he realized he stood upon a bald patch on the side of the valley. The hills that made up the valley were the creature's body.

  “Hello. Sir.”