Greg vanished in a puff of smoke, the harpoon splitting the smoke version what would have been his head and embedded itself into the brick wall of a home behind where he’d stood.

  Volatile Step

  Level 1: 52 of 100

  Upon reaching thirty volatility, you may purge some to teleport instantly to a visible location within range.

  Decrease volatility by 15

  Range 15 ft.

  He reappeared in the space right behind the alchemist, but unlike previous foes, the teleport did not fool him. His engorged shoulders spun, and a fist the size of his head collided with his chest. Taken completely off his feet, Greg landed back on the flagstone road ten feet away. His body crumpled on impact and rolled for several more feet until finally coming to a stop with a mouth full of pebbles and dirt.

  “You need to wait him out. The transformation won’t last forever.” Isabella said.

  Greg groaned and pushed himself up. The rock beneath him shook as the heavy breathing monstrosity sprinted at him again. Quickly rolling to his right, Brycen’s full weight came crashing down with a stone cracking hammer-fist in his vacated position. He pulled Light Drinker from its sheathe again and stabbed and sliced at the exposed knees and ankles before he could recover.

  Volatility: 39 of 100

  Divine Resonance: 26 of 100

  Demonic Resonance: 29 of 100

  Blue mist whistled out of the pinprick holes his rapier had created rather than blood.

  Greg backed away, reaching into his inventory space with his free hand and grabbing the message stone. Isabella was probably right. The problem was he was not doing any damage, and if he took another shot like that it wasn’t likely he was getting back up. Brycen growled in his direction, glanced down as he took a hesitant step to make sure his legs did in fact still work, and then stalked toward him making a deep, throaty sound that Greg assumed was supposed to be a chuckle.

  He squeezed the stone. “Residential ring,” sparing the slightest moment, he looked toward the city wall and the marked guard tower. “Section seven. I’ve got your alchemist. He just dosed himself and I might be dead. Get here as soon as you can.”

  Greg was still backing down the street. The denizens of the otherwise quiet street had thankfully stayed in their homes, but he could see them peaking out doors and windows to see what the commotion was. Last thing he needed was a bunch of kids watching him get squashed.

  Brycen sprinted at him, gorilla-like arms scooping up broken stone from the street as he did to throw.

  Greg spun around and ran. Serpentining as best as possible, he narrowly dodged basketball sized hunks of rock while sprinting down the street. He needed more information. The transformation wouldn’t last forever, but how long was that? When it faded, could he just do it again? Was there any point in turning and fighting? Or should he just run?

  The last question was answered for him.

  After about a mile, the earth stopped trembling beneath his feet with every stride. Greg chanced a glance over his shoulder and found Brycen retreating in the opposite direction. Whatever his alchemy had done to him, it didn’t have the same effect it had on Miles. He’d chased him off and was now going back to his original objective.

  “No, the fuck you don’t,” Greg grumbled as he pivoted and ran back toward the man.

  The alchemist was slower in this form, but not enough to make catching back up to him easy. If only he could have gotten his harpoon out of the wall before taking off. Would have made this way easier.

  The mountain of bulbous flesh stopped on a dime and spun with another backfist, but Greg was already gone.

  He’d noticed the slightest jerk in one of the jiggling naked ass cheeks and decided to take a chance. Greg used his volatile step to teleport into the air over Brycen’s head. At the exact moment he came to a sudden stop, gravity took over. The transformation had turned the average height human into an eight foot tall flesh monster, so the drop wasn’t far, but it was enough that when he drove Light Drinker down into the neck and shoulder area, it finally drew blood.

  Greg landed back on the ground as the alchemist roared and reached up for him. He stuck him several more times with the rapier before the scrambling man finally locked down on him. He wasn’t going to run this time. He couldn’t give him the chance to get away, but he couldn’t take another shot either.

  “Run away, little rat! Or I will kill you!” Brycen snarled at him, enormous swollen feet driving into the ground with each stomp.

  “Oh, fuck.” Greg blurted out. “You can speak when you’re like that? That makes this much easier.” Greg leapt backwards as a fist slammed into the flagstone. “This is not a flattering transformation for you. You’re such a good-looking guy? Why turn into this blubbery monster? Also, it makes your penis look absolutely minuscule.”

  “I’ll!”

  A fist dug into the ground to his left.

  “Fucking!”

  He flipped backward to avoid the next swipe.

  “Kill!”

  To his right this time.

  “You!”

  Brycen jumped directly at him like he was belly flopping into a pool, but Greg had kept just enough in the tank for another quick jump. He teleported into the air above him again, this time not bothering to pull Light Drinker back out. When his feet planted into the alchemist's back he delivered a divine and demonic strike through each of them.

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  “It’s like a waterbed.” Greg said idly as he shifted back and forth on the blubbery back of the man. “How many calories was in that potion?”

  The alchemist roared, slamming his fists into the ground before trying to spin onto his back and grab him. Greg just dismounted and left him flailing wildly in the air in front of him.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think you’re going to win this fight by annoying him. Talk about his tiny penis again. He hated that.”

  Greg managed a chuckle and took a few steps back as the flesh mountain got back to his feet. “You alright, big guy? Took a little tumble there. Should we call your mommy?”

  “We’ll see how cocky you are.” Brycen lifted his hand into the air, and it vanished into an extradimensional space.

  Greg half expected another potion, maybe a weapon of some sort, but his opponent pulled out a tiny glass bead he could barely see between his gargantuan fingers.

  “Run! Now!”

  Greg’s head jerked up at her warning, and he turned to run, but it was too late. A loud popping sound erupted from behind him, and then he sprinted face first into a cloudy white wall and ricocheted off like he’d hit a trampoline. The sounds of the outside world had vanished. All he could hear was the heavy breathing of the man behind him. He turned slowly to judge the predicament he’d found himself in this time.

  A dome of cloudy plastic looking material had sprouted around them, apparently from the tiny bead. Now, he was locked in a ten foot radius circle with a maniacally laughing naked monster. Good. Just where he wanted to be.

  “Where are you going to run now, little man?” Brycen slowly stalked toward him.

  That was an excellent question. He pressed his back to the curved wall, pushing back to test the elasticity. It had just enough give to launch whatever hit it back. “You really shouldn’t talk to your own penis that way.” Greg sighed. “Positive self talk is important for your mental health.”

  Brycen didn’t take the bait this time. He took control of the center of the dome and reached into his extradimensional space again, pulling out a massive mace and tapping it on the ground a few times. “At least it will be quick. You can thank me for that.”

  “Ooof.” Greg gestured to the mace with menacing onyx spikes at the end. “Compensating a bit much, aren’t we? Also, nobody wants a one pump chump.”

  “Do you ever close your mouth?!” Brycen took a step in his direction and brought the mace in an arch. He didn’t have enough volatility built up to teleport, but Clover had put him in similar positions enough times that he knew what to do. He sprinted forward and dropped into a slide. The broken rock and dirt of the street were not gentle on his borrowed pants, but Greg had enough time to draw his blade and slice in an upward motion.

  Blood and mist blew from the deep cut that narrowly missed the alchemist’s private bits, making a purple cloud of steam fire off from between his legs.

  “It’s wearing off. You’ve almost got him.”

  Brycen let out a howl and swung the mace again, this time over his head to bring it down on him. He slipped to the side, shards of flagstone flying in all directions as Greg stabbed the closest arm several times, creating more and more sources of the purple exhaust.

  Greg danced around the tight confines as best he could. The alchemist was getting slower, and more blood was coming than mist with every successful stab. As he grew weaker however, he became less predictable. The verbal jabs kept coming, but Brycen no longer responded with words. Just the wild swings of his mace.

  Volatility: 30 of 100

  Divine Resonance: 44 of 100

  Demonic Resonance: 47 of 100

  He had one last trick up his sleeve, and he wasn’t going to wait until the last second to use it this time. He backed into the opaque wall, the panting monster stalking after him with his mace dragging across the stone in one hand. The blunt weapon hoisted into the air and arced down at him.

  Ruin Edict

  Level 1: 60 of 100

  Execute the will of the gods at any cost

  After eclipsing forty resonance, you may choose to convert all resonance into volatility after a delay. This will heal any non-lethal wounds and temporarily double your strength, dexterity, constitution, and luck for a limited time. Dominant resonance at the time of using Ruin Edict determines additional effects.

  Cooldown: Long rest (minimum eight hours)

  Demonic activation:

  -Wounds cauterize with infernal fire

  -Radiate oppressive heat and shadow

  -Attacks apply burning effect

  Decrease all Resonance to 0

  Lasts 1 second per 1 resonance

  After the effect ends, increase volatility by half the amount of total purged resonance.

  Greg jumped forward, and with his doubled strength kicked the alchemists elbow as hard as he could. The mace came down, but instead of hitting where Greg had been, the kick sent it off course. The barbed head collided with the bouncy opaque wall and ricocheted back at its wielder.

  The gong-like sound that came from the collision of the mace and Brycen’s “enhanced” head vibrated the dome. Greg scurried back to the other side, and the weapon slipped from his grip, landing on one of his already faltering feet. The man pulled in a sharp breath, then was silent for a long moment, before his knees gave out and he fell face first into the curved wall, cheek squeaking as it crawled down the smooth surface.

  “Okay.” Greg stepped gingerly over to the man and nudged his still enormous thigh with his foot. “What do we do about this dome?”

  “It’ll drop.” Isabella informed him. “It’s a magic item, so it only lasts for a limited time.”

  Ruin Edict faded, spiking his volatility up into the fifties. He used a couple of volatile steps around the dome, until just as she’d said, a loud popping noise sounded and the dome vanished. He looked around for the bead, but Isabella informed him it was a onetime use item.

  “Well, shit.” Greg looked over the massive naked body laying in the middle of the street. “What now?”

  “You might need this.” An elderly dark skinned human wandered over to him, rope coiled in his hands. “I think you left your spear in my house.”

  Whatever Brycen had taken to turn him into Sumo-Hulk took several more minutes to wear off. The transformation back into a normal sized person was even more disgusting than the initial change. His skeleton shifted first, leaving a mass of unidentifiable flesh and skin for more than half a minute as his body magically vacuumed the excess.

  Once he was back to normal size, Greg quickly tied his wrists behind his back, cut off another length of rope to tie his ankles, then shoved a spare pair of socks into his mouth, and heaved him up over his shoulder.

  QUEST COMPLETE!

  Catch the Alchemist

  You’ve stumbled upon a possible lead to your investigation. Don’t let him get away.

  Reward

  5x gold obols (deposited into Bottomless Coin Purse)

  1500 experience

  “You’re not taking him to the celestial, are you?” Isabella asked.

  “No,” Greg said, frowning at the thought. She’d told him that if he needed her to use the stone. This could have gone very wrong very quickly, and he called. She did not show up. So much for The Mother’s protection. “I’ll take him to Brannoc. He’ll know what to do.”

  The fastest way to Brannoc’s was back through the entertainment ring. Not an ideal walk, but he’d stick to the alleys as much as possible to not bring to much attention to him carrying a hogtied naked man across the city. It became apparent three quarters of the way through his walk, that he could have walked the man right through the streets and no one would have noticed.

  In the brief glimpses through the spaces between buildings, foot traffic was sparse. That was until he walked past Lux Noctis. Crowds had gathered around the nightclub, all looking up to the sixth and seventh floors where several windows had been blown out. Greg stopped long enough to see a familiar form leap from one of the windows with a body over his shoulder.

  Doran Hightide’s signature afro was impossible to miss, but had he not recognized him somehow, his team followed right behind him. They’d hit the nightclub without him. She didn’t answer because she was doing the thing that she said was too dangerous for them to do.

  It wasn’t.

  They just didn’t want him tagging along.