The city was under attack. From the window in Dee’s room, they could see activity from the hive. Bees swarmed in the night air, so many that they could hear the angry buzz of them even this far away. A skyship was strafing the hive, swooping high overhead and firing on the hive as it passed. The furious but helpless bees could only circle in a cloud as white-gold beams of fire lanced into the hive from above.

  Guns on the city wall responded. A few flowers of light peppered the hull of the ship, but it wheeled and turned for another pass. It was too high and fast moving to hit effectively, but likewise its own attacks were doing little more than annoying the hive.

  “What are they doing?” Yuri said, her face pressed against the window. Her long dark hair spilled down her shoulders and back like swoops of dark silk paint.

  “It’s a distraction,” Dee said. “There’s a night shipment on the bridge, they’re probably taking that while the guards focus on the hive.”

  “Ooh, did your book tell you that?” She turned and looked at him with conspiratorial interest.

  “Just the shipment. But if I was making this up for a game, that’s what I would make the pirates do. It looks like just one ship, so they have no chance at a direct assault. Sneak a ground force in, probably during the day and then give them the opportunity to make off with pure honeymetal.”

  Yuri nudged his arm. “How sexy you are! So intelligent.”

  “I could be wrong,” Dee said. His face flushed red. “They could just be causing destruction for no reason.”

  “That doesn’t make anybody richer, darling.”

  Yuri pushed on the tiny window, with a creak it opened up. She squeezed her body out onto the rooftop.

  “Oh,” was all Dee could say. Shocked by the sight of her behind clad in silky nightwear and also shocked by the fact that she had just climbed out of the window.

  “Come on, little human. I need your help.” She turned and put her arm back in through the window, beckoning him, like a pale ghost trying to tempt him out into the dangerous night.

  “What are you doing?” his voice cracked a little.

  “We’re going to rescue that shipment, get a lovely reward and show the girls what a great team we are. O-hohoho!”

  “But I don’t know if it’s actually true- and also you don’t have your staff, and I can’t fight,” he stuttered out.

  Yuri peered in through the window with a disapproving look. The flashes of cannon-fire behind her made her look like a fashion model at a shoot. Her face was completely determined, there was no way she was coming back in.

  “I don’t need my staff, I have plenty of mana. Even more with you, come on!” She wiggled her fingers at him, like you would call a puppy.

  “I really- I can’t,” he said.

  She huffed pulled away her hand. He heard scraping as she clambered down the slanted roof. She was going with or without him. The last thing he wanted to do was climb out into the night and get into a fight with Schrodinger’s pirates. But to leave her alone… guilt propelled him onto the rooftop. He grabbed the sword he had purchased earlier, then pushed himself through the window, out onto the roof, and definitely did not look down.

  “Good boy! Come on,” she called to him. She was already at the lip of this part of the roof, ready to climb down to the lower part. Dee just followed Yuri and hoped this wasn’t a wild goose chase. It would be embarrassing if he was wrong. But it would be the book’s fault, he didn’t control that. And secretly it would be a relief if he didn’t get into a battle with pirates in the middle of the night.

  Yuri led them to a corner of the inn, where it was easy to climb down against the neighbouring building.

  In the streets, some citizens stood and stared at the ship in the distance. Others were heading for cover, away from the attack. Guards were nowhere to be seen down here, they were all on the walls, and near the hive. If the ship was acting as a distraction, then it was working. Dee jogged after Yuri and hoped again that he was wrong. No matter how powerful Yuri was, they had no idea how many pirates there would be, or what level they were.

  Yuri led them up a staircase onto the walkway that connected the hive to the temple. “Look!” she hissed.

  Dee was right. Further down, towards the hive, a small group of guards stood surrounded by pirates.

  As they ran towards the situation, Dee tied to analyse it like an encounter setup. It was difficult to make sense of completely by torchlight and random cannon fire, but he saw several wounded guards and cargo haulers lying beside dropped crates. The remaining handful of guards were trying to fend off a group of about ten pirates. The guards had been surprised, and their remains were outnumbered maybe three to one.

  But they were still fighting, class abilities were firing off, magical strikes and glowing shields flashed. Some pirates held back and fired crossbows at any guards or workers that tried to break away to run for help. The pirates just needed to wear down the last defenders and make off with their prize before reinforcements came.

  The pirates were mostly humans, with a tempesti and a single pook, perched on the shoulders of a crab-man.

  “Hand it over,” the pook cried out. She was short and confident, her perch letting her look down on her foes.

  She pointed her cutlass at the guards, her bushy tail waving and twitching threateningly. White limned ears stood out from beneath her captain’s hat.

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  The crab-man chuckled and waved his crossbow at the guards, to reinforce his captain’s demand.

  We can probably distract them a bit, let the guards regroup and keep away the pirates until more guards get here. The pirates thought it would be an easy fight, so they might even just leave with what they have. Dee thought. He couldn’t fight but he had designed and ran hundreds of RPG fights. I hope that actually translates into decent tactics here.

  “Yuri, we should—” Dee started to say.

  A witch-bolt from Yuri’s outstretched hand slammed into the back of a pirate and sent him sprawling.

  Or you could just blast them. Dee thought.

  “You!” the captain cried. She turned to stare at Yuri.

  “Oh hello, Silk dearie,” Yuri waved back. “Looks like you found another ship! O-hohoho.”

  The pook’s tail straightened and fluffed out like an angry cat. She pointed her cutlass at Yuri and bared her teeth. “You arrogant, moon-sucking wench! I’m going to keelhaul you through a lightning storm!”

  “Still holding a grudge? That’s bad for your health.” Yuri posed. The air thrummed around her. “Which crest to blast you with? Perhaps I should just... use both!”

  With no hesitation, Yuri summoned Mad Marsh and Inferno Conundrum. She wove them together again, foul green energy mixing with sparking red flames. Even in her nighty she was dangerous looking.

  “You lunatic!” Silk cried as power whirled around Yuri. She banged her cutlass pommel on the shell of the crew man carrying her. “Cobble!”

  “Yes Cap’n!” he cried in a gravelly voice. He chuckled and summoned a crest of his own. Knobbly ribbons of purple-pink energy whirled in front of him, grinding against each other with a sound like a ship beaching. “Crush Coral.”

  At the same time, Silk summoned her own crest, a violent swirl of water. “Storm Spout.”

  Cobble and Silk concentrated, their movements started to sync as they pushed mana into the air. They matched their movements like ice-skaters who had practiced together for hours in a complicated dance, creating a glimmering spout of water, filled with sharp tendrils of coral.

  Yuri’s weave of energy roared towards the pirates. Howling faces with eyes bleeding flame gnawed at the air and each other, hungry to feast on the enemy. They were met with a spinning dome of water. Lashing coral tentacles clamped like shark jaws on the faces, biting them into pieces. Fire, water, steam and magic erupted around the battle like a sun unleashing arcs of energy into space.

  Dee cowered besides Yuri and hoped that he wouldn’t have to get involved in this. His sword was in his hands, still in its scabbard. What could he do, pull it out and start slashing at the magical beams of energy?

  This was the physical proof of what he had understood on the tavern. Adventurers sought nothing but crests, gold and gemstones were side-effects of seeking real power. They could do things far more powerful than any class ability he had seen. That was the thought running through his logical game master brain. His monkey brain’s reaction was more: ‘Holy Shit. I hope I don’t die.’

  As the crest energy died down, he saw the guards had regrouped to protect their shipment. Dee tried to unsheathe his sword, but his body was locked with fear. He should leave this to Yuri. He was being sensible. She had this under control. Those thoughts didn’t stop him from quivering in fear and contained disappointment.

  Yuri was panting. Her breath misted slightly in the chilly night air. Crest against crest had resulted in a stalemate. The pulse of magic was still in the air, flickering and erupting in strange bursts of leftover energy.

  The captain and her crabby ride were panting, exhausted by channelling of mana to summon their crests. The crab man leant on his foreclaws, his mouth hanging open like a panting dog. Atop him the pook captain’s tail and ears drooped, but her eyes were fixed on Yuri. If evil glare was a crest power she would have killed the Mist Witch.

  “Still showing off!” Silk cried out. Her tail flicked behind her and she sneered. “No subtlety.”

  The rest of the pirate crew were huddling close to her, shaken but protected by their Captain’s efforts. They were waiting for her command, to attack this new foe or perhaps retreat.

  Crossbows and cutlasses were pointed at Dee and Yuri now. But nobody wanted to make the first move. A standoff, now they would have to fight without crest powers. Except…

  “A crest combo is not my only trick. I also have a secret weapon!”

  Yuri grabbed Dee and kissed him. Her body tingled with magic and warmth, he felt her breasts nuzzle against him through her thin nighty. His ears roared, from the passion of the kiss and the feel of mana flowing from his body into hers.

  She released him and he almost fell to his knees.

  I’m almost knocked out from one kiss.

  Yuri stood tall with an arch expression on her face. She flicked her fingers at the pirates. “I only need one crest to take you down. Inferno Conundrum!”

  Silk’s ear rose in shock and the pirates cried out in sudden panic. The whole balance of the battle shifted with this unexpected recharge.

  Flame walls burst up from the ground, creating a fiery maze around the pirates. The crew howled in fear and danced back and forth, trying to escape the confusing flame pattern.

  “You can’t do that!” he heard Silk cry from deep within the maze.

  The guards took this opportunity to haul their cargo and wounded comrades towards Goldmeadow Temple, largely ignoring Dee and Yuri. They had no time to think about what happened, their duty was their priority.

  Yuri flexed and cracked her fingers. She had mana left over, and was eager to show off even more.

  Her fiery crest faded and she smirked. “Ready for a little more?” she cried out.

  Silk’s eyes flickered between the disappearing cases, Yuri and Dee. But they stayed on Dee. She stared at him, like he was a sack of gold. Calculating. Then with a flick of her tail she made a choice. She hissed and called out a command to her tempesti crew-mate.

  A thick lightning bolt erupted from the bridge, weaving up into the air like a coil of rope. In the distance, the cannon fire stopped as the ship saw the signal and wheeled towards it.

  “We stop them escaping,” Dee said.

  “Let them run, I’m sure we’ll bump into Silk again sometime,” Yuri said.

  “Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. This is exactly how recurring enemies start.”

  “Yes, it’s fun, isn’t it? I quite like having a nemesis.”

  “No, Yuri, that’s not a good thing. Think logically about this, if we stop them and they get arrested we won’t have to deal with them later. We can sort this out right now on our own terms.”

  “You can stop them if you want,” Yuri said.

  The sword in his hand felt very small. He was painfully aware that he was wearing no shoes and no armour.

  “You know I can’t.”

  “Let me do the thinking then, I’m tired.” Yuri yawned and stretched. “We should get some sleep, my little human. We’ve got an early morning.”

  The ship loomed overhead, sleek and fast. And the crew were already making their escape. The lightning was a signal and escape route, clinging to it propelled them up into the air into the safety of their ship.

  “This is going to cause so much trouble, I know it,” Dee sighed. He watched the retreating Goldmeadow guards. “Maybe we should help the guards though?”

  “They know what to do.” Yuri waved at the guards. “We saved their lives, that’s what heroes do.” She skipped off towards their inn. She had shown off and was now done for the night. Dee stood stuck on the bridge for a moment, not feeling like a hero. Then he slunk after Yuri, still-sheathed sword in hand.

  Back in his room he dropped his sword to the floor and collapsed into bed. Night-time fights and mana recharging was more exhausting than an all-night binge-watch. Yuri snuggled into bed with him, head on his chest. He tried to speak, but they were both so tired that sleep came fast.