The rooftop felt smaller and suddenly very dangerous without their only ORDER IV.

  Jin took a deep breath, forcing down the spike of panic clawing up his throat. The confident facade he'd worn in front of the other, the easy grin, the casual shrug, almost crumbled the moment he realized they were left to fight against an Underlord.

  The memories of his fight with Vellakin surfaced unwanted. Claws through his chest. Blood in his mouth. That awful moment of knowing he was about to die, feeling his consciousness slip away while his body screamed in agony.

  Jin's hands trembled slightly before he clenched them into fists.

  Not again. Not like that.

  Go handle that monster, Joe. We'll be fine with the other ORDER IV monster. No problem at all.

  Jin scoffed at his own idiocy, mentally berating himself with every colorful insult he could think of.

  Stupid. Stupid, stupid, arrogant—

  He slapped himself across the cheek hard enough to sting.

  Focus.

  Jin sucked in a breath through his teeth and forced his mind back to the task at hand, shoving down the what-ifs and second-guessing that wouldn't help anyone survive what comes next.

  He panned his gaze across the rooftop.

  Rudy hefted his greatsword, the crystal veins along the blade pulsing with dull white light.

  Jin blinked at the sight.

  Rudy’s improvement was startling. Just days ago, Rudy's form had been serviceable but rough around the edges. Now? Now his stance looked like something out of a martial manual. Balanced. Efficient. Ready to move in any direction without wasting motion.

  Salvatore had drilled fundamentals into him in mere days, and the difference showed. Jin had always known his friend was a quick study when properly motivated, but seeing the results of having an actual master invest time into teaching was something else entirely.

  Good mentors really do make all the difference, Jin thought with a mix of appreciation and mild envy. Maybe I should ask Salvatore for some pointers, too, when this is all over.

  "So." Rudy broke the silence, his voice carrying forced lightness that didn't quite mask the underlying tension. "What's the plan, bro? Because standing here watching the city burn isn't doing us any favors."

  "Guys, we can't beat an Underlord." Reyana's statement came flat, matter-of-fact. No fear in it. "Never, it’s just not possible. That thing would destroy us."

  "No," Jin agreed quietly. "We can't."

  Rudy turned to face him, greatsword tip dropping slightly toward the rooftop. "But you did win before. Against that monster during our first attack."

  Jin's scoff came out harsher than he intended. His hand moved unconsciously to his ribs, fingers pressing against where Vellakin's claws had punched through. The phantom pain was still there.

  "Rudy, all I managed was maybe a quarter of its health pool in damage, and I'm under no illusion that if Joe hadn't turned up and capitalized on the opening?" Jin met Rudy's eyes. "I'd be deader than dead."

  Reyana crossed her arms, her expression shifting from wary to focused. "However?"

  Jin met her gaze and allowed himself a small smile.

  "Let me be very clear about our capabilities here. We are not built for straight fights against things a full rank above us. Not yet," he said, letting the words settle before continuing. "But our enemy is very much, if not the same, then similar to Vellakin."

  Rudy's eyebrows rose. "That's... supposed to mean something?"

  "Maybe we can skip to the main part," Reyana said. Her eyes flicked toward the edge of the building where the roars and growls were getting louder. Closer. "Because the enemy should be back here any minute."

  "Right, sorry." Jin nodded, pulling his thoughts into order. "What we need to do is set up the battlefield. The one thing that's strongly in our favor is that this construct shouldn't be able to use Lord Flames or manifest aura."

  Reyana's eyes sharpened with understanding. "So no rank suppression?"

  "Exactly. No rank suppression," Jin confirmed.

  "That's why you think we have a chance," Rudy said slowly, processing the implications. "No suppression means our attacks will actually land at full effectiveness. We're not fighting with one hand tied behind our backs."

  "Yes." Jin raised one finger. "But make no mistake—a single clean hit from that monster would likely kill any of us outright. Maybe Rudy could survive one blow, but two? Three? No chance."

  He pointed downward at the building beneath their feet. "This building is sort of optimal for what I have in mind. What I need from you two is time. Get me as much as you can manage." He paused, swallowed, then said weakly, "Ten minutes minimum."

  Silence greeted that statement.

  Rudy scowled, and his grip on the greatsword tightened until his knuckles went white. "You want us to fight an Underlord. Without you."

  “You were ready to fight it just a moment ago,” Jin said.

  “Yeah! And I still am, but not without you!” Rudy shot back.

  "I want you to survive while buying me time to make sure none of us die." Jin caught Rudy's eyes, then Reyana's, letting them see he meant it. Letting them see the weight of what he was asking. "I'm not asking you to win. I'm not even asking you to hurt it. Just keep its attention locked on you and off me while I turn this building into something that gives us an actual shot at walking away."

  Reyana's expression shifted. Her lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile but held anticipation anyway. "It seems the time to test all those trinkets has come."

  "So it has," Jin agreed.

  A massive explosion rocked the world.

  All three of them flinched, heads snapping toward the source. Jin's hand went instinctively to Iron Howl's grip, essence flooding his channels before conscious thought caught up to reflex.

  Crimson light bled into the sky miles away like a wound opening in reality itself. Then darkness spread in response—not shadow, but absence. A sphere of nothing that consumed light. The two forces collided somewhere over Vienna's eastern district, and even from this distance, the pressure wave made Jin's ears pop.

  "Holy shit," Rudy breathed beside him, one hand raised to shield his eyes from the afterglow. "That's Joe, right? Has to be Joe."

  Their eyes, even enhanced by essence circulation and active perception skills, could barely make out details across such vast distances. But the scale was unmistakable. Two ORDER IV entities throwing everything they had at each other, and the collateral damage was reshaping the city's skyline.

  "If that's what an Underlord fight looks like from miles away..." Jin swallowed. "I don't want to know what it looks like up close."

  "I'm afraid," Reyana said slowly, her voice carrying grim certainty, "we will be finding that out very soon."

  Jin gave Reyana an awkward chuckle that sounded more nervous than he intended. Then he reached out and grabbed both Rudy and Reyana by the shoulders, grip firm enough they'd feel it through armor and essence barriers.

  "Remember, we're trying to stall, not kill it." Jin's voice came out quiet and absolutely serious—the tone he used when lives depended on people listening. "You see an opening to end the fight, you take it. But your primary job is survival and delay. Make it angry. Make it chase you. Make it waste time trying to catch shadows while I build the trap that'll actually give us odds."

  He squeezed once, then let go and took a step back. "Eight more minutes and I'll have something that shifts our chances significantly. Until then, don't die. Don't be heroes. Just be annoying."

  "Annoying I can do," Rudy muttered, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders. "Been practicing my whole life."

  "Don't I know it," Jin said with genuine warmth.

  Then he turned and melted into the shadows near the stairwell entrance, descending rapidly while his friends prepared to fight a monster.

  ???

  Jin took the stone stairwell three steps at a time, his boots barely making a sound against the concrete. The building had twelve floors above ground. Plenty of vertical space to work with. Plenty of opportunities to layer effects and create chokepoints.

  Perfect for what he had in mind.

  "Narrator, can you map the building?" Jin asked as he reached the main lobby of the eleventh floor.

  ? Already done. ?

  ? This was a residential building. There are no signs of life apart from you three. Everyone either evacuated or... well. Best not to think about it. ?

  ? Fortunately for us, this complex was one of the expensive ones. As you can see, we have a large lobby area with access to elevators and the stairs. There are exactly four apartments on each floor. I've mapped and highlighted where we need to set our components. ?

  ? And we need to set a lot of components. So get moving. ?

  "Yes, sir!”

  ? The first thing we need to ensure is that Nourma shouldn't be allowed to just bulldoze through walls and escape the building entirely. ?

  "Oh yeah, good thought." Jin agreed.

  ? … ?

  Jin waved his hands, and items materialized from his spatial storage in rapid succession.

  The first thing he pulled was stacks of small rectangular sheets, each one covered in dense runic script.

  o_________________o

  Talisman

  …

  Classification: Consumable / Conditional Artifact

  Type: Single-use item

  Effect: A talisman is a pre-inscribed focus that stores essence, intent, or a single bound effect. When triggered, it releases its stored function instantly, without requiring active casting or sustained control.

  o_________________o

  Jin had made hundreds of these things last night, burning through essence and materials with manic focus while others were resting. Technically, he should have slept as well, but, well, he couldn’t help himself, and besides the rush of harvesting all that ORDER IIIs kept him awake.

  But in his crafting frenzy, he managed stacks of different talismans. Courtesy of the cultists' stockpiles, Jin and his party were stocked absurdly well with materials—this after they'd burned and destroyed most of the loot that was too evil or grotesque to safely keep.

  The cults had possessed blood of virgins, blood of infants, preserved organs, and lots of similar materials that gave Jin headaches and nausea just cataloging them. He'd thrown most of it to Reyana and tried not to think about where it came from.

  But the normal components like essence crystals, runic inks, binding papers, and catalyst stones, those he'd kept and put to immediate use.

  The beauty of talismans was elegance through simplicity. All they needed to function was a proper medium, a runic circuit, and a catalyst to trigger activation.

  ? Focus on the task. ?

  “Yes,” Jin said.

  The Narrator's urgent voice snapped Jin out of his thoughts as he started stamping talismans against walls at locations the interface highlighted in his perception, glowing markers perfectly positioned for maximum coverage.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The formation mapped across the floor like invisible circuitry. Each talisman a node. Each placement calculated by the Narrator to maximize effective coverage and create overlapping fields of influence.

  His Harvest ability had given him many boons over the past weeks. Combat skills. Essence techniques. Weapon proficiency. But if there was one thing he'd been severely overlooking, it was ritual magic.

  Rituals didn't just mean communicating with higher entities, and not everything was about blood sacrifice or forbidden knowledge.

  At their core, rituals were simply structured methodologies to affect physical and spiritual reality efficiently while staying within safe operational bounds. A way to punch above your weight class through preparation and understanding rather than raw power.

  The creation of talismans was among his best recent successes. Simple to make. Cheap to produce. Scalable in ways that personal skills weren't.

  The first one went on the wall near the stairwell entrance. Press the talisman flat, channel a thread of essence to activate the adhesive binding array, watch it sink into the surface and disappear from normal sight. Move to the next position.

  Twenty feet along the corridor. Press and activate.

  Another twenty feet at an angle, the Narrator assured him, would create optimal coverage patterns with the previous placements. Press and activate.

  The first stack he deployed was the Eroding Mind talismans. Each one inscribed with pre-instanced circuits designed to radiate outward and manipulate emotional states within its effective range.

  Jin pulled up the description mentally as he worked, reviewing specifications one more time to make sure he hadn't missed anything critical.

  o________________________o

  Eroding Mind Talisman

  Type: Single-use Spatial Talisman

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Description: A paper talisman inscribed with pre-instanced circuits designed to radiate and manipulate the mood of any entities within its range.

  Effect: Slowly and subtly inflicts the curse "Hot-headed" onto any entities within range. When used in conjunction with several other same-type talismans, the affliction upgrades. "Hot-Headed" converts into "Chaotic Mind," which cannot be cleansed through normal means—only endured until expiration.

  o________________________o

  The Eroding Mind talismans went down first because they were foundational to the entire strategy.

  Each individual talisman was rated Uncommon and did basically nothing on its own. Slight mood alteration. Barely noticeable irritability that most people would dismiss as stress or hunger, or lack of sleep.

  But Jin wasn't using them individually. The formation theory he'd studied, courtesy of harvested memories from a ritualist, one of the dead body was when alive, said that seven or more talismans working in concert would trigger a threshold effect. And specifically with this talisman, the affliction would evolve from "Hot-headed" to "Chaotic Mind," and that upgraded version couldn't be cleansed by normal countermeasures.

  You had to wait it out. Had to endure the effect until it expired naturally.

  And Nourma, being a soulless artificial construct, had exactly zero defenses against mood afflictions. The thing was immune to mental attacks. Soul manipulation. Spiritual erosion. Its artificial nature made it nearly impervious to techniques that targeted consciousness or will.

  But mood? Mood was different. Mood was physical. Hormonal in living creatures, essence-pattern-based in constructs. It affected thought patterns and decision-making without actually attacking the mind itself, which meant it bypassed Nourma's immunities completely.

  At least Jin hoped that’s how the situation should go if it didn’t… well, they could always improvise.

  Besides, the Narrator had analyzed Nourma's potential weaknesses and had come up with a comprehensive plan to layer afflictions and environmental effects as the construct descended through the floors. Or rather, was forced to descend.

  Because if the monster decided to collapse the structure entirely or tear through exterior walls to escape, they were all completely fucked.

  Jin moved to the next floor down, boots barely touching the stairs as he took them three at a time. His hands were already reaching into his spatial storage, pulling more stacks—different talismans this time, marked with different color-coded tags he'd added for quick identification.

  More talismans went up in rapid succession. Different sets with different functions, each one placed according to the Narrator's precise calculations.

  Jin also pulled crystalline objects from his storage, the first one a prismatic crystal roughly the size of his fist that caught the emergency lighting and split it into rainbow refractions.

  o_________o

  Prismatic Disruption Crystal

  …

  Type: Single-use Trap Component

  Rarity: Rare

  Description: A masterwork crystal commissioned from a Master-rank enchanter, containing compressed spatial distortion effects.

  Effect: When triggered, creates a localized field of spatial instability that disrupts essence flow and perception within 15 meters for 30 seconds.

  o_________o

  Jin only had seven of these originals, borrowed from Joe's personal arsenal with explicit instructions not to break them unless absolutely necessary, because apparently each one had cost him a small fortune.

  But Jin also had fifteen more crystals, his own attempts at replication. His runecraft wasn't refined enough yet to match Joe's commissioned work from Master-rank enchanters, and his early attempts had been... mixed at best. Three of them had exploded during testing. Two more had fizzled out completely. The remaining ten worked, but with significantly reduced effectiveness and duration.

  So instead of trying to make inferior copies of the originals, Jin had pivoted to a strategy. He'd created resonating crystals specifically designed to overclock the seven authentic ones Joe had loaned him.

  o_________o

  Dubious Resonance Amplifier Crystal

  …

  Type: Single-use Enhancement Component

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Description: A crude but functional crystal designed to enhance nearby prismatic effects through harmonic resonance.

  Effect: When placed near a Prismatic Disruption Crystal, it extends duration by 50% and increases area of effect by 25%. Has a 20% chance of catastrophic failure.

  o_________o

  The Prismatic crystals would go one per floor, with two of Jin's resonating replicas positioned alongside. He also had scattered dozens of unreliable prototype crystals throughout the main pathways—failures from his crafting sessions that had an 80% chance of exploding violently when triggered, but would still provide useful chaos if they detonated.

  Waste not, want not. Even his failures could serve as improvised grenades.

  Using his fingers as makeshift tools, Jin began etching additional runes directly into the interior surfaces as he moved through each floor. His fingertips glowed with concentrated essence as he carved symbols into concrete and steel, the energy burning through materials like acid eating through paper. This consumed a hefty chunk of essence from his reserves, but between his skills, his First Star formation, and Iron Howl's passive regeneration, he was confident he wouldn't run dry before finishing the setup.

  The Narrator guided each stroke, correcting angles in real-time, adjusting depth for optimal essence conduction, ensuring the patterns would activate properly when the time came, and the whole formation went live.

  Simultaneously, Jin chanted under his breath while moving. The words activated his [Spellshot Synthesis] skill, and he raised Iron Howl to fire at predetermined locations the Narrator highlighted in his perception.

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  Jin fired at walls, floors, and ceilings. Each bullet embedded itself deep into the structure and disappeared from view—invisible mines waiting for the signal to detonate with stored sorcery. Some were loaded with his Cryo affinity for crowd control. Others had pure concussive force to disorient. A few special rounds contained experimental effects he wasn't entirely sure would work, but figured couldn't hurt to try.

  Jin moved to the next floor down and repeated the process. Talismans on the walls in formation patterns. Crystals positioned for maximum coverage. Runes carved into support pillars. Bullets were fired into strategic locations.

  Again and again.

  Three floors done. Jin hit the next stairwell and descended while pulling more talismans from storage. His hands moved on autopilot now, muscle memory taking over for conscious thought while his mind focused on essence circulation and maintaining the increasingly complex mental map of what he'd placed where.

  Press and activate. Move. Press and activate. Move.

  The rhythm was almost meditative in a way that probably should have been relaxing, but just made Jin more aware of how little time remained before Nourma came for them.

  Five minutes since he'd left the roof. Maybe six if he was lucky. The clock in his head counted down with mechanical cruelty, each second a weight pressing against his concentration.

  Don't die, Jin thought fiercely toward his friends waiting above while his hands kept working. Just hold on a little longer.

  ???

  Rudy watched Jin disappear into the stairwell, leaving him and Reyana alone on the rooftop with the weight of what they were about to attempt settling over both of them like a funeral shroud.

  The silence stretched for three heartbeats while Rudy processed what they'd just agreed to.

  "He's underestimating us, isn't he?" Rudy said, finally, unable to keep the note of frustration from his voice.

  Reyana scowled, her expression darkening before smoothing into the calm mask she wore when analyzing tactical situations. "Even if he is—" She paused, seemed to reconsider her words, then shook her head. "Understand, Rudy. We're facing an Underlord. Construct or not, artificial intelligence or genuine sentience—it doesn't matter. You're only a High Mortal right now. Do not try to match blows directly, or you will die."

  The absolute certainty in her voice carried the weight of someone who'd survived by understanding exactly where the line between bravery and stupidity lay.

  Rudy deflated slightly under the weight of her assessment. Wanted to argue. Wanted to say he'd fought above his weight class before and won, that the Colossus Mantle made him tougher than normal ORDER I combatants, that he'd trained with Salvatore himself and learned techniques that bridged rank gaps.

  But the memory of the necromancer fight surfaced unwanted. How close he'd come to dying. How many times had luck and borrowed power and Jin's ridiculous planning had been the only things keeping him vertical when by all rights he should have been dead.

  His master's words echoed from countless training sessions conducted in cold mountain air while Rudy's muscles screamed for mercy: Overconfidence kills you before you even reach the battlefield. Arrogance means you never leave it alive.

  "I understand, Reyana." Rudy took a breath that filled his lungs and steadied nerves trying to fray at the edges. His hands found his greatsword's grip, and the familiar weight was grounding. Real. Something he could control when everything else spiraled toward chaos. "You be careful too."

  "Mm." Reyana's response was distracted, her attention already shifting toward the building's edge where something massive was climbing.

  A clawed hand slammed onto the rooftop's edge—charcoal-black bone wrapped in flickering dark flames. The fingers dug gouges into reinforced concrete like it was wet clay, and Rudy heard rebar screaming as it bent under pressure it was never designed to withstand.

  Slowly, deliberately, the figure pulled itself up and over.

  Nourma rose into full view.

  The construct stood at the precipice, and Rudy got his first clear look at the thing they'd be fighting. Empty charcoal eyes that tracked both of them with intelligence sent ice down Rudy's spine because he'd been half-hoping the monster would be mindless. Easier to predict. Easier to manipulate.

  No such luck. Damn.

  Without Threnval present to dominate its attention, Nourma stretched. Fully and completely. Bones popped with sounds like breaking branches, and the meek posture Rudy had seen earlier when it stood beside the Abyssal Child vanished like smoke. The construct rose to its full height, shoulders back, and its presence expanded to fill space.

  A knight, Rudy thought with sudden clarity. Nourma, standing tall, was built like a knight—reinforced shell, structured movements, dark flames flickering across its frame like a corrupted tabard.

  "You have my gratitude," Nourma said, and Rudy flinched at the voice—deep and resonant, almost pleasant if you ignored the underlying menace that made his skin crawl, "for taking away that monster."

  The construct tilted its head, and those empty eyes somehow conveyed curiosity despite their lack of pupils or any feature that should have been capable of expressing emotion.

  "Although I'm saddened not to see my kinslayer as well as that crimson-eyed mortal," Nourma said in a deep voice. “Nevertheless, I can see both of you are excellent warriors, hardened by fate and adversities. This will do.”

  Kinslayer? Rudy's mind spun. What the hell does that—

  "I am Nourma." The abomination seemed to relish the introduction, rolling syllables with careful enunciation like someone savoring fine wine. "The fourth creation of my master Vella. Born from her desire to break the chains of divinity that bind even gods to their nature."

  One hand extended upward toward the Veil, blotting out the stars above Vienna. "I welcome thee to test this body. To prove your worth as mortals who dare stand against forces beyond your comprehension."

  Nourma's outstretched hand snapped closed into a fist.

  The bone sledgehammer shot from somewhere below like it had been fired from a cannon. Nourma's hand closed around the handle, and the impact of the weapon meeting palm cracked the rooftop beneath his feet—spiderweb fractures racing outward from where he stood.

  Rudy felt the shockwave as a physical force that made his ears pop and his chest compress.

  The whisperlink in Rudy's ear buzzed with sudden activity. Jin's voice came through, artificially calm despite the insanity of what they were about to attempt:

  "Sending you the enemy’s status information now. Read it fast, I don’t know how reliable this information would be through the links."

  Information flooded Rudy’s mind, and if he hadn’t had the [wisdom of sage] skill at adept, he was sure he wouldn’t have caught a single word.

  o___________________________o

  Nourma, The Chained One

  …

  ? Rank: UNDERLORD [ORDER IV (Pseudo-Class)]

  ? Classification: Divine Fleshbound Aberration — Soulless Vessel

  ? Origin: Sangvath Anor (Creation of Hand Vella)

  ? Threat Rating: EXTREME

  …

  ? RESISTANCES ?

  └─Physical: Moderate

  └─Elemental: Very High

  └─Curse: Moderate

  └─Poison: Immune

  └─Soul: Immune

  └─Mind: Immune

  …

  ? TRAITS ?

  └─Divine Husk ? Retains fragment of divine essence. Grants superior regeneration and corruption field (~5m radius)

  └─Echo Communion ? Speech-layer resonance manipulates neural rhythm. Audio-based psychological interference.

  └─Maw Blessing ? Soulless. Immune to aura suppression, charm, mental interference, and spiritual erosion. Cannot produce Aura or Lord Flame.

  └─Minor Blessing of the Darkened One ? Strength scales with nearby death and darkness.

  └─Minor Blessing of the Blood Mother ? Converts damage received into a temporary regeneration multiplier. Continuous attacks strengthen vitality if not fatal.

  └─Blessing of Sangvath Anor ? Divine resistances. Bonus damage if the enemy has divine blessings. Immune to divination and scrying effects.

  …

  ? ABILITIES ?

  └─Fleshbound Frame ? Damage taken is converted partially into kinetic energy stored within Nourma's flesh. Stored force amplifies the next attack.

  └─Ossuary Cataclysm ? A portion of all damage received fuels [Cataclysm Charges]. Once fully charged, transfer charges into the weapon and slam the ground, dealing cataclysmic area damage.

  └─Desecrated Benediction [AURA] ? Nearby enemies suffer continuous increased [Stamina], [Health], and [Essence] drain. All healing effects are reduced by 50%.

  └─Hollow Apotheosis [UNIQUE] ? Loses all divine blessings and intelligence. In turn, becomes an inner beast, gaining immense health, raw damage, attack speed, and corrupted AoE. The effect lasts until the user loses consciousness. Upon unconsciousness, the user dies.

  …

  ? PROBABILITY OF VICTORY (CURRENT CONDITIONS): 29% ?

  ? PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL (UNTIL EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE): 42% ?

  ? WARNING: DO NOT ENTER PROLONGED FIGHT. BEST COURSE OF ACTION IS DEALING ENOUGH DAMAGE TO TRIGGER [HOLLOW APOTHEOSIS], THEN RETREAT IMMEDIATELY. ?

  o___________________________o

  Divine resistances. Immunity to soul attacks and mental manipulation. Blessings from three different entities, including the Darkened One himself. Abilities that convert damage taken into power for counterattacks. An aura that drained health, essence, and stamina simultaneously while crippling healing.

  Rudy's eyes locked on the bottom statistics, and his stomach dropped through the floor.

  PROBABILITY OF VICTORY: 29%

  PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL UNTIL EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE: 42%

  Less than half. Less than a coin flip.

  "Eight minutes, I think," Jin's voice crackled again through the whisperlink, and Rudy could hear the strain in it—his friend pushing hard, working fast, burning through essence to set whatever trap he'd conceived. "Stay safe, guys. Don't do anything stupid."

  The link went dead with a soft click.

  “Don’t do anything stupid he says.” Rudy scoffed.

  “I know, right. Like pot calling kettle black.” Reyana added.

  Nourma's empty eyes tracked them both. Measured. Assessed. Found them wanting and dismissed them as legitimate threats in the span of a single heartbeat.

  "SHOW ME YOUR METTLE, MORTALS!"

  The construct's voice boomed across the rooftop, and then the thing moved.

  One second, Nourma stood forty feet away, sledgehammer resting casually on one shoulder.

  The next second, between one heartbeat and the next, it was directly in front of Reyana, weapon screaming through the air at her midsection with force that would paste her against whatever wall she hit after the impact.

  Shit—

  ~~~

  PS: Psst~ Psst~ Advanced chapters are already up on patreon. It would be awesome if you guys, you know...

  ? ? ?