"If you put more weight on your left leg, while you swing your sword, you are opening yourself for an easier take-down," Aearbon instructed Filomena. "The demons in the interior of the kingdom are no joke. They will be nothing like the rabble we're facing. Always have your feet placed firmly on the ground, that is where your power comes from."

  The Tigerman was a good instructor. He knew more about hand-to-hand fighting than anyone here, save for Rey. But since he no longer had the Sword mastery – Master skill, he had forgotten most of it. His brain still had the info, but it just refused to cooperate and pull it out of the right drawer. He had used a lot of it while fighting with his scythe, which was broken thanks to their dear instructor.

  Over the past month, since Aearbon had been here, Rey had tried to repair it so many times. Every repair attempt ended in failure, rage, or a dramatic speech to an inanimate object. Since he was a Novice blacksmith, he hadn't unlocked the skills that would let him create a runic skill slot in a weapon. He could only imagine how far out that would be.

  He had taken all the viable branches off the tree that he used to sleep under, so there was hardly any shade left. This was the last one he had.

  Don't fuck this up, or I'll have to get the pickaxe mastery skill.

  Maybe then you could sell yourself to the mines of Nteriket. Demon Rey added.

  Maybe I should sell you to the mines and finally be rid of you. My friends are back. I don't need you anymore. Get the fuck out of my head.

  I ain't going anywhere, I'm your inevitable future.

  Rey heaved a heavy breath. He was right. It was still a long way off, but Rey was destined to become a demon. It wasn't so bad being a demon. Most things had definitely become easier, but it was a long way off.

  So, he focused on his current task. He checked the branch for the tenth time to make sure it was the optimal length. It was. This time, he wasn't going to attach a whole new shaft to his scythe, but instead add only the missing half to the bottom of his shaft.

  After confirming the length, he got to work sanding the wood until it was smooth and splinter-free. Then came the hard part—he had to attach it to the bottom of the shaft. So to do that, he hollowed out the shaft for about four inches and stuck the new piece in. It took a little pushing, but it fit snuggly. Then he used three nails—which were his last—and slammed the nails in from different sides. They weren't long enough to stick out the other side. He tested it and confirmed it was solid enough by shaking the scythe violently. The new addition to his shaft was secure.

  "Fucking finally." He breathed out a sigh of relief.

  Someone clapped lightly off to the side. He turned to find Kassandra, beaming at him.

  "Have you been here all along?" He asked.

  "At least for the past five minutes," she replied. "You were so into it that I didn't want to disturb you. You turn really grumpy when things don't go your way. You even toss and turn in your sleep more when you're frustrated."

  Rey shook his scythe, and thankfully, the new addition to his shaft was still secure. "This could still break at any time. I'll have to find a real blacksmith to get this repaired properly."

  "Aren't you a real blacksmith?"

  "Not really. I'm just a novice. The best I can do is minor repairs. For any real improvements, we still need to find one who is at the Journeyman level or higher."

  She nodded. "Since you're done here. You want to go spar. Test out that new scythe of yours."

  Rey shrugged. "Sure, as soon as the drill instructor stops chewing out the star-crossed lovers."

  Ajay and Filomena were going at it. They were fighting like they really wanted to take each other's heads off. Maybe they were just getting their frustrations out on each other. Lately, there had been a little rift between the two ancient civilizations of the Old World, maybe because the Indian empire wasn't giving it his all in sparring against the Italian empire, or simply that they had no time or privacy to do the freaky-freaky.

  The rules of this sparring were simple—there could be no use of magical skills, and obviously, no maiming and killing, because they had enough things coming after their limbs anyway. From where Rey sat, it looked like they were well past the maiming part. Their blades sparked when they clashed, and they looked ready to rain hellfire.

  "Temper your blows. Ajay, you're leaning too much to the left," Aearbon stated, who was utterly oblivious to what was happening.

  "The way they're going, Filomena might take off Ajay's leg herself," Rey commented, making Kassi snicker.

  But a realization dawned on him. She really could take off his leg. They were going so fast that even by accident, they could do some severe damage to each other.

  "No, this is bad," Rey commented, sitting up straighter.

  Kassi noticed his tension. "What's wrong?"

  "That." He pointed to the lovers' spat. "Aearbon, stop them."

  Aearbon obeyed without even looking. "Stop!"

  Ajay and Filomena still kept going. Their swords clashed once more, and lightning arced around Filomena's blade. Rey was about to drop them to the ground by upping the gravity, but Aearbon jumped between and stopped their blades from connecting. He was gripping their arms like they were two children.

  Filomena looked ready to fry the tiger, and as much as he would like to boast that he had eaten tiger meat, he kind of liked the fellow. Thankfully, the very angry Miss Sicily didn't fry him with her lightning bolts.

  "Control yourselves, you two," Aearbon warned. "You went beyond the bounds of this bout."

  "Let go," Filomena seethed through gritted teeth, as she tried to yank her arm out of his grip. "If you're going to scold someone, then tell him not to hold back."

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  "I'm not holding back," Ajay protested. "How many times should I say that?"

  "Stop patronizing me! You think I can't handle it."

  "Again, I would never think that. In fact, sometimes, I have to try really hard to keep up with you."

  The two kept arguing while Aearbon tried to mediate between them, but he was clearly out of his depth. He was used to giving an order and having his word followed as if it were the word of God. Unfortunately for him, humans didn't function like that, especially not these humans, who clearly needed some couple's therapy.

  Rey shared a glance with Kassi. "Why do I think this is more than just Ajay holding back?"

  "I'll talk to her," she said. "But I think it's about the fact that we've stagnated. We're training and getting stronger, even if our Ranks stay the same. It's just that we've been here for too long. Maybe they need a change of scenery, is all."

  Ajay finally gave up, dropped his sword, and walked, shaking his head, while Filomena, it seemed, wasn't done arguing. It looked like she would've shot a lightning bolt at his back if Kassi hadn't gotten in her way.

  "Trouble in paradise?" Rey asked Ajay as he walked up to him.

  "What paradise? Last, I looked, we're in Hell, and how can I get even an iota of peace?"

  "Yeesh, that bad, huh?"

  "Worse." Ajay shook his head and dropped to the ground. "It's like something's possessed her. Even since those Luthrols showed up, she thinks her death is guaranteed, and no matter what I say, she…" He gave Filomena a side-long glance and sighed. Then he lowered his voice. "Maybe you shouldn't have told us of impending doom."

  Rey had the idea that this would come from one of them. He didn't think it would be Filomena who broke first. Now, he was worried that she might have spoken of things like the canon event and Rey knowing more than he was letting on. Then it would be torture city for him.

  "Maybe I shouldn't have," Rey admitted. "But I also couldn't say nothing and send you all to your deaths. Even though that is what I did."

  Ajay sighed. "It's not your fault, man. The pressure is just getting to her."

  "Just tell her that you'll make sure that nothing happens to her."

  At least long enough to make it out of purgatory. After that, how long they go would depend on that little kid with the dolls. Even a single one of his friends would change things so much that the butterfly effect would be Mothra-sized.

  "Rey, would you like me to continue training the others?" Aearbon asked.

  And there was that.

  "You don't need to ask me to do everything, man," Rey replied. "We're all equals here. Just do whatever you want."

  Aearbon nodded. The Tigerman was stoic and disciplined as all Hell. Once, Rey told him to do a handstand for an hour, to see if he would, and he did just that. Every time he fell, he reset the counter. He was also the strongest of them all, save for Rey…maybe.

  He could take any of them with ease. One time, he took on Kassandra, Filomena, and Ajay all by his lonesome and very nearly even beat them all. Rey was sure that in a hand-to-hand fight, he would be pummeled into the ground by the behemoth of a Tigerman.

  Ajay nodded to him and left to sulk by himself. Kassandra was coming towards him. She sighed as she took a seat beside him, sitting nearly shoulder to shoulder.

  "Let me guess, Filomena isn't taking it kindly to her upcoming appointment with death," Rey asked.

  She nodded. "She thinks her death is coming soon, now that you averted Ajay's."

  "Again, that isn't confirmed. Nothing is confirmed. An elephant could drop out of the sky, flattening us into paste, and then snort us like we're the best cocaine in the world."

  She snorted.

  "What did you tell her?" He asked.

  "That everything will be fine and that you will not let anything happen to us."

  "If only that were true," Rey whispered.

  She nudged his shoulder. "Don't think like that. We'll be fine."

  Rey couldn't look her in the eyes after what he had done. "Kassi, you should know…I think I should tell you why I was running away from you before."

  "Because getting close to you is how I die, wasn't it?" she said.

  Rey nodded. "True, but that's not the entire truth. The truth is…" He looked her in the eyes. "It's that…you can't come with us when we go to kill the triclops, Razgorel."

  "Because he will kill me by dropping me in an acid pool. You already told me that, Rey."

  "No, that's not how you die." He drew a deep breath and told her the truth. "After he drops you in the acid pool, I kill you by bursting your heart so you don't have to die in excruciating agony."

  She was stunned. He might have burned whatever was building up between them, but he had to tell her. That was the only thing he could think of that could be her canon event. There wasn't anything else that made sense. It was either Razgorel kicking her in the acid pool or Rey bursting her heart. So, if she never went with him to fight Razgorel, she would be fine. She would avoid her canon event if that were her canon event. He wanted to tell her all this, but couldn't because the Sovereign of bathing in dung and his minions were watching them.

  "Kassi, you don't know how scared I am of that," Rey said to fill the silence. "It...It broke me, or will break me. I can't go through that. I can't lose you. You're the only..."

  She looked at him at that and must've seen the storm of emotions that was going on inside him. "Yes?"

  His heart quickened, and he decided to lay it all on the line. He told her how he truly felt. The truth, no twisting words or making things up. Once he got going, the words just spilled out of him.

  "You're the only good thing left in my life. I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you in that classroom. You're smart, beautiful, have those dimples that light up the world every time you smile, and most of all, you laugh at all my jokes, no matter how bad they are. In truth, if there is one light in this fucked up life of mine, it's you. Kassi, knowing what I would do to you, terrified me. I couldn't handle that. This is why I pushed you away, no matter how much it hurt. It was a dagger to the heart every time. Every. Fucking. Time. I…I didn't know what to do. That's why I left. Why I truly left, because I couldn't do that to you and live with myself. Running away was the one way I could ensure that I didn't have to kill you. To tell you the truth…" His eyes watered. "Kassi, I'm beyond terrified because in a few months you'll be gone and I'll be all alone…I don't know how I'll go on without you."

  This was the one thing that was gnawing on him at the back of his mind. If he failed to save his friends, he would be all alone. If he truly ended up killing Kassi again, he wasn't sure he could live with himself after that. His hands shook at the mere thought. He nearly didn't survive the first time after that. He couldn't go through that again. He just couldn't.

  Her eyes watered. She cupped his face in her hands. "But I'm here now, and I know you'll make sure nothing happens to me."

  He smiled as a tear leaked out of his eye. "Even if it's the last thing I do."

  She smiled, and there they were, the dimples, instantly making him feel better.

  "But Kassi, if…"

  "No ifs, I'm with you, Rey, to whatever end."

  He smiled. "I'm going to do something that I've been waiting to do for five years."

  She frowned. "What is that?"

  He kissed her.

  Her eyes widened at first, and then she leaned in to him, put her arms around his neck, and by God, he felt like he was melting into her. It was one of the best kisses he had ever had with anyone. He didn't know how long they kissed, but when they parted, Rey looked into her green eyes, and he saw the look that he had been waiting for ever since he saw her again in the classroom.

  "You're perfect."

  She smiled. "You're not so bad yourself."

  She moved her arm through his, held his hand, and rested her head on his shoulder. They sat like that for a long, long time.