The figure stepped fully onto the courtyard. The sound of footsteps hitting the cobblestones could be heard echoing off the walls as they advanced.

  The dust slowly cleared, revealing a man in patchwork armor. His armor was colored silver, black and red. It was pitted and dented as though it had endured many battles and had not been cared for in years.

  Sparks danced lazily along the armor plates and the haft of the spear in his grip. His smile was manic, and his teeth a deep yellow.

  “Ah… breathing, blood flowing, real people.” His voice lilted between cordial host and something on the edge of unhinged. “You cannot know what it means to see unfamiliar faces after so long. My name, he gave an elaborate, mocking half-bow… is Dalton.”

  His molten-gold eyes burned brighter as he said it. “Two guests, no invitation, and armed for war no less. As good is it is to see people after so long, I don't know if I can excuse the lack of manners of not sending a message ahead to my concierge though.”

  "You have a concierge?" I questioned as I scanned around me, seeing if there was another person I had missed. I didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean there was not someone in the castle.

  Dalton started to laugh. "Well, no, you got me. He's been dead for some time, but the thought is what counts."

  I shifted Ashbourne’s weight into a ready guard Lawson had showed me. This guy was clearly insane. There were three of us standing right here. How the hell was he not seeing Lawson? I looked over at Lawson, and the man just shrugged his shoulders.

  I used his Identify on the clearly insane man and actually got back some information this time.

  Well, that Elite level Boss status was new. A sinking feeling in my stomach told me that this new enemy was a cut above the rest.

  My sword responded to my quickening heart with a faint thrum, silver fire tracing the blade like veins of molten moonlight.

  Dalton’s gaze lingered on it, and for a heartbeat his grin faltered. “Oh… you brought a fun toy, I see. How delightful.” His voice hardened, the madness sharpening in his eyes. “I hope it does not break like all the others.”

  Balt walked up next to me, knuckles white from how hard he was gripping his staff. But I could tell he was ready to fight. "This guy is strong as he is batshit crazy, Lawson." Balt said.

  Dalton’s laugh rang out. “Whose Lawson? His system tag identifies him as Riven. Did you say that name, or am I hearing things again? You know, after getting zapped a few million times by lightning, everyone dying, living off remnant flesh, you never really know what’s what. You might be crazy to, if that happened to you.

  His spear sparked, and he let out a maniacal laugh. Overhead, clouds churned in a tight spiral, their underbellies bruised with stormlight. Tiny arcs of electricity crawled along the stone, spiderwebbing toward Dalton’s boots.

  “I’ve waited so long for a challenge worth my time,” Dalton said, spear tilting toward them like a conductor’s baton. “Do try not to disappoint me too quickly, System knows when I will get another chance to entertain guests.”

  The wind picked up, carrying with it the smell of ozone and the promise of thunder. And then Dalton was gone, a blur of metal and stormlight. The air cracked next to me.

  I spun, Ashbourne already sweeping up to guard. A lightning?wreathed spearhead was coming at me; I moved my head just enough for it to hiss past my cheek. It blistered my skin as it flew by, before slamming into the cobblestones with a thunderclap that made the courtyard shudder.

  I turned to see the explosion where the spear had landed. I watched a lightning strike come down next to the spear. Dalton appeared on the edge of the small crater he’d just made, one hand reaching out grabbing his weapon, the other outstretched in mock welcome. His grin was feral now, with no trace of cordiality left. “Oh, good. You’re quick. That’ll make this fun.”

  I'll show you quick. I Flash Stepped and moved right beside Dalton and yelled out, “Limit Slash!”

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  Dalton moved his spear and intercepted my strike. “You know, yelling out your moves makes it really easy to counter them, right?”

  I had known that deep down but had gotten into the habit for some odd reason. Lawson was in his ear then. “He is crazy as they come, but he’s kind of got you there.”

  "Not helping." I had activated Limit Break already and was parrying his spear strikes with some success now. I used Flash Step and appeared next to Balt, disengaging from the exchange to get a breather.

  Dalton had started laughing again. "What if I yelled ‘Lightning bolt to the ass’? You would know I was aiming for your ass, right? I mean, think about it, okay?”

  “Eyes up,” said Balt. He’s trying to screw with you.”

  I was breathing hard from the exchange but kept my eyes on the crazy fucker. I watched his body transform into lightning right before my eyes. Dalton reappeared mid?air above me, twisting into a descending thrust.

  Limit Break kept me just quick enough to defend, and Balt was not idle either. A series of Force Jolts shot out.

  Ashbourne flashed upward to meet his spear. The collision was a strobing burst of power, the shockwave driving dust and frost outward in a rippling halo. The Jolts Balt was launching had slowed down Dalton’s momentum just enough to help me parry the spear and force him back.

  Dalton landed lightly, sparks skittering down his armor. “Oh yes,” he breathed, eyes fever?bright, “you're both doing splendidly.”

  Dalton started to spin his spear with lazy precision, arcs of lightning snapping between its bladed head and the courtyard stones. “Splendid,” he echoed, the word rolling off his tongue as though he were savoring it. “But we have just begun. The tasting is over; let the real meal begin.”

  The air shifted. I felt it in the pit of my stomach first, that prickling heaviness before a storm breaks. I chanced a look up; the clouds were churning unnaturally fast.

  The surrounding air became charged with electricity. Then the boss moved. One blink of an eye, Dalton was gone. Next, he seemed to be everywhere at once, flickering in and out of my reach.

  Each reappearance close to me came with a spear feint or a whistling cut, forcing me and Balt to guard from every angle. I Flash Stepped again and again as soon as the Talent would come off cooldown, Ashbourne cutting only through afterimages every time.

  “If that is all you've got laughed Dalton, I am ending this.” A wave of force hit all the images at once. The images disappeared, and Dalton was back in his original spot, laughing and holding his spear. “That tickled.”

  Balt was breathing hard with his staff extended.

  “Work as a team or you will fall!” Lawson barked, his voice cutting through the chaos. Balt rasped out, any ideas?"

  “I have one, but it is beyond ridiculous of an idea; how are you with acting?”

  I slipped in beside Balt, and a stage whispered. “I am going to have to use the all-powerful super technique that insta-kills whatever it touches.”

  A powerful corny voice responded. “Oh, but you can’t, oh powerful Outlier, you will surely die as well if you use that technique!”

  I put my hand across my chest. “For a foe as deadly as this one, what choice do I have, old friend?” Dalton took a step back inadvertently. “You guys know I can hear you, right?”

  “No time! The fiend has heard us! Live well, Balt.”

  "I activate supernova armor!” My armor Talent formed around me.

  “NOOOOOO, don’t do it!” screamed Balt, reaching out a hand to grab me half heartily. I Flash Stepped right next to Dalton.

  “Awww hell no,” cried out Dalton. The Boss started to run away and create some distance between us.

  I stuck with him, not giving him an inch. I activated a fully powered Limit Slash trying to cut his head off as I yelled out, “Armor explode now!” Bringing my sword down with all my strength. I, of course, was activating my armor Talent and then deactivating it repeatedly, making the armor flicker.

  I saw Dalton’s eyes go wide as saucers the more I made the armor flicker. Dalton had lost all composure and brought his spear in front of his body to defend against what he thought was going to be a massive explosion.

  Spear met blade. Dalton flinched, eyes squeezed shut, for the explosion that never came. ‘Got you,’ I whispered as I darted to the side. Dalton never saw Balts’ wave of force as it pounded into his back, knocking him forward.

  Dalton hit the cobblestones hard, the impact knocking the air out of him as he tumbled. The spear skittered from his grip. You're mine.

  I Flash Stepped next to him before he could stop rolling. “Limit Breaker Slash.” Every ounce of power I possessed funneled into the strike, the air around me warping with the sheer pressure of the upgraded Talent.

  Dalton tried to roll away, eyes snapping open in time to see death coming from above. He tried to bring his spear up to block, but he realized too late it was gone.

  Ashbourne bit into Dalton’s pitted chest plate with a sound like splitting mountains, silver fire detonating outward in a wave that rippled across the courtyard.

  Dalton’s scream was lost beneath the thunderclap that followed. His body was compressed down than hurled backward in a skid that carved a molten gouge across the ground. I straightened, Ashbourne still humming in my shaking hand.

  He had been thrown against the wall, and had slid down the wall no longer moving. I dropped to my knees, exhausted. Limit Break was now on cooldown.

  Balt jogged over to me. “I can’t believe the acting actually worked,” he said, half?laughing, half?panting, that bastard had his eyes closed almost the whole time your armor was flickering."

  I gowned out a painful laugh. “I know the way you over acted I never thought he was going to buy it.”

  “The hell you say I was magnificent,” muttered Balt. Me and Balt both began to laugh as I walked back to Lawson.

  My legs were trembling from fatigue as Balt kept me steady. Balt hooked an arm under my shoulder, supporting me further. “Come on, hero. No sleeping yet; we have Lawson’s praise to bask in.”

  A clang of metal on stone caused me to look over to where the noise was coming from. The fallen spear was sparking again, floating up and then falling onto the ground over and over. The spear suddenly shot out, and I followed its trajectory in horror as it landed in Dalton’s mangled outstretched hand.

  Slowly I watched him plant one hand on the ground, then the other, using the spear butt to push himself up through the waves of silver flame still licking across his armor. Chipped plating fell away in molten fragments, sizzling on the stones. His head tilted just enough for me to see the grin stretched across his face.

  When he spoke, his voice was hoarse but giddy, as if the pain had stripped away every last scrap of reason. “Ohhh… now that was fun. You got me good!”

  His legs shook beneath him. A faint, unstable aura began to coil around his frame, jittery, snapping arcs of power that made the air taste like metal. Balt’s grip on my arm tightened. “He’s not done.”

  Balt let me go, and I did my best to stand tall on my own. I focused on the enemy. "Neither am I."