“Your Eminence! Our Scouts have successfully made contact with the rebels.”

  The trembling soldier lowered himself before his master, presently seated upon massive throne carved from a single block of obsidian flanked by cold-eyed men in crimson robes. The man's choked whimper echoed oddly in the massive audience hall filled with Lord Song's elites and adorned with floor-to-ceiling frescoes and silken tapestries depicting a vivid tale of violent conquest and absolute dominion over all to fall before the gray-eyed conqueror.

  Lord Song, wearing armor of blackened iron in sharp contrast to the shimmering splendor of his enchanted cape, glared down at the trembling soldier while his blood mages sneered at the whimpering man as dozens of elite soldiers looked on.

  All of the mercenaries present were wearing near identical polymerized skin suits that would meshed perfectly with the powered armor every last one of them were versed in using. Yet even without their deadliest tools, they all radiated the crushing aura of Bronze with their purple eyed gazes that the trembling soldier, barely level 10, could obviously feel pressing down upon him like a lethal weight.

  The sacrifice flinched when he accidentally caught their gazes, though he paid no attention to the handful of smirking youths far more eccentrically attired than the mercenaries, no matter that their gazes were the most disturbing of all, peering at the man as they splayed out on cushions and recliners while sipping fermented nectar or savoring exotic fare, almost seeming to be entertained by the man’s trembling terror.

  Lord Song spoke then, his surprisingly powerful voice caused the entire chamber to resonate as he spoke with a sonorous rumble.

  “Reveal.”

  “At once, your grace!” The doomed soldier sobbed, eyes widening with dread, turning around to lurch toward the massive floating crystal ball covered in crimson runes less than ten feet from the throne.

  The man began to whimper, shuddering uncontrollably.

  Wide, panicked eyes gazed into the crowd for a single pleading instant before his features twisted with wild ecstasy.

  “For the empire!” He screamed before tearing off the shirt of his uniform as he raced toward the now pulsating orb.

  Ecstatic eyes filled with sudden dismay as he wrapped his arms about the fiercely pulsating globe, before exploding in a shower of boiling blood and gore, flying out to spray the entire cool-eyed crowd.

  But before a single dispassionate observe could be splattered with gore, every last crimson drop was snatched by the now pulsating globe, not a single speck wasted.

  Not one.

  “I love how it never hits us. And the look in their fucking eyes when they finally realize how fucked up and doomed their lives are,” snarked one girl who looked far too innocent for her jaded smile, no matter how heavily she had applied her lipstick and eye-liner, bringing back goth like a one woman army, frock coat and thick silver buckled boots both radiating enchantments of Shadow and Confusion.

  This earned a scowl from the comparatively clean cut youth she was leaning against, fingers entwined with her own, who looked no older than she. “Stop it, Shelbs. That’s a messed up way to go, and you know it. Even if we do have a war to win.”

  A second boy with olive skin and eager eyes was gazing excitedly at the pulsating globe. “Here we go, guys. It’s throbbing like a living heart! Genuine native earth magic. Blood and Necromancy spheres. And the blood is rich.” The boy’s nostrils dilated. “That loser actually had a Mana Pool and decent Soul Reserves for such a noob!” He rubbed his hands together. “I can feel it, guys. This is enough. I can finally unlock Native Arts!”

  The girl shrugged nonchalantly, leaning into the boy now wrapping his arms around her. “Shadow magic’s better, Ronald. Hands down.”

  This earned her a side-eyed glance as the air rang with distant screams. “Unlocking knew arts and potency pools is never a bad thing, Shelby.”

  “Hush, children,” warned the closest Bronze mercenary, gazing almost paternally at the three young Contenders. “The sphere’s activating. Soon, we will have a crimson eye on our opponents and be able to track them effortlessly, with no more lives being needlessly lost.”

  The orb pulsed once, twice, thrice, showing the shadowy images of a soul in torment, features matching that of the man who had literally exploded into the sphere, before snapping into HD clarity with only an occasional crimson flicker.

  Shelby’s eyes widened at the sight of the broad shouldered dwarf covered in thick metal plates that the globe zoomed in on, wielding an oddly familiar looking weapon shooting out steel bolts of all things as the grand hall rang with a steely clang. Then the image panned out further to reveal a green-eyed youth firing glowing arrows from an obviously magical bow as the image continued zooming out, revealing their targets.

  Shelby scowled and cursed. “Fuck, Eliot’s actually alive? I thought for sure he was gone like half our class!”

  “Me too,” said the boy holding her said. “Why didn’t he reach out to us? We all agreed that if things were really turning into a post apoc novel, we’d find away to turn it all around. Together. Forming our own epic guild.”

  The girl shook her head. “What the hell is he doing, Chris? He’s on the wrong fucking team. We gotta reach him before he gets himself killed!”

  “That’s Ion’s company,” noted one of the mercenaries in a low voice.

  A fellow mercenary smirked. “Do those fools actually think they’ll be able to pierce our armor with those primitive toys?”

  This earned a snort. “I think this will be a short engagement. If we’re lucky we’ll have Orlin in the interrogation chamber before… fuck! What the hell was that?”

  The chamber rang with a crack and boom before Lord Song’s scowl had one of the crimson-robed men behind his throne whispering sibilant words that softened the cacophony emanating from the globe.

  But that did nothing to mitigate the looks of awed disbelief and outrage as one of their own was sent cartwheeling away.

  “What the hell hit Bentz? Fuck, look at his armor!”

  Shelby and Chris exchanged glances. “Someone fired a cannon?”

  “Impossible,” the closest mercenary scoffed. “None of the orcs’ pathetic black powder cannons can generate the force needed to crater our… the hell is that?”

  The air rang with clangs as the mercenary was effectively stun-locked, pounded by a crimson ball that seemed to disappear an instant after making contact at ever greater velocities.

  “Pan it.” Lord Song’s sharp command was met with the view zooming out, growing a bit more grainy, but clear enough for the three youths to trade glances, making out the madly grinning countenance of the youth throwing what looked like a cannon ball at the squad of heavies.

  “Who the fuck is that? And how the hell is he throwing cannonballs so fast and hard?”

  Shelby hissed. “No fucking way. No way!”

  Ronald chuckled. “You recognize him too, right?”

  “Wait, you know him?” asked the boy holding her.

  She shrugged. “I know of him. Eric Silver. Elonia Silver’s brother. In all the tabloids? Part of the elite blue blood crowd always partying it up? You know, the ones whose parents owned half of Manhattan?”

  Chris scowled. “Did he go into professional baseball or something? How the fuck is he pitching cannonballs that… fuck!”

  His voice cut off when the power armored unit’s detached communication filled with sudden alarm when tungsten bolts far bigger than the steel ones from the dwarf’s carbine began chewing into their reinforced frames.

  “Fuck, Ion’s squad’s in trouble.” Said a nearby merc. “We gotta suit up!”

  “That’s a twelve foot automaton. Human pilot! They were clearly holding back,” snapped another.

  This earned a cool nod from a third mercenary, even as a glaring Song remained utterly silent, fingers steepled as he watched it all play out.

  “Cute toy. But Ion company’s no easy mark.” The man flashed a hard smile. “Now they’re taking those fools seriously. Shooting in—” the merc blinked. “How the hell did he move so fast?”

  Shelby exchanged a look with the curly haired youth beside her. “Did that boy just dodge Hyperion blaster fire? Fuck, there goes some prime real estate!”

  Ronald snorted. “Clearly that Eric had some inside track into getting an elite… fucking hell! That dwarven mecha’s resisting direct line blaster fire? What kind of force field can do that?”

  “One that will drain damned quickly,” assured another nearby mercenary. “Trust me, kids. We’ve had a dozen fights like this one. Unprepared enemies burn through their last ditch perks and reserves before they tap out with nothing left, and then it’s cleanup time. This is where it all draws to a quick end for our—” before his eyes widened with a curse. “No! Ion! Fucking hell!”

  All three youths froze at the sight before them when one bruised, battered, but ultimately intact heavy squad suddenly became three, then two intact members as their fellows crashed to the ground.

  “Oh shit! They were holding back!” Ronald whispered into the sudden tension, several dozen smirking mercenaries now gazing with ice cold intensity as tungsten bolts from enchanted dwarven mecha were perfectly staggered by what could only be class feats to actually pierce and puncture reinforced face plates, bringing a pair of their own down in short order.

  But what truly shook them was when one mercenary’s hyper reinforced helm abruptly exploded with such force that fragments of bone and brain and polymerized tungsten slammed into the nearby buildings with enough force to cause multiple facings to collapse.

  Shelby squeezed her lover’s hand with painful intensity as the mercenaries all around them erupted into angry shouts and confusion. “What the hell did that, Chris?”

  “Silence!” Roared Lord Song, unleashing an oppressive aura so infused with the essence of Dominion that everyone daring to stand abruptly crashed to their knees with enough force to crack the tiles, the three youth’s going chalk white in complexion when the air abruptly rang with three reverberating knocks.

  Ronald’s eyes bulged. “Shit. I sense something really bad coming our way, guys!”

  The red-robed blood mages behind Song hissed in unison. “Ware, Lord Song. A grand master approaches!”

  Lord Song tightened his grip on the hilt of the war hammer beside his throne. “Clarify.”

  In that instant the picture of the dwarven elites and allies roaring and cheering over the fallen bodies of elite armored mercenaries that should never have fallen so easily crackled out of existence… before being replaced the a picture that clearly none of them expected.

  “What the fucking hell is that?” Chris hissed, lurching back.

  Ronald’s eyes filled with wonder. “Shit! I can feel the soulbinding magics just radiating off those two. Fucking epic!”

  Shelby paled. “Um… is there really a top hat-wearing skeleton with a talking rabbit on its shoulder talking to us through the globe… or am I just tripping balls?”

  The rabbit waved. “Hey folks! It’s me, Bunbun, your favorite adorable familiar, along with my good buddy Grim, all around badass lich and Master Necromancer, here to talk to you about the importance of quality leadership and to share with you kids a once in a lifetime offer!”

  “Dispel them at once!” Song snarled at the trio of blood mages behind him who immediately dipped their heads in unison.

  “At once, Your Eminence!”

  “Now, first and foremost, the golden delicious carrot!” Bunbun enticed with a knowing confidential wink between friends that should be impossible on any normal rabbit, yet the creature pulled it off surprisingly well. “What could we possibly offer that would be worth changing sides this late in the game? How do you know that the offer is genuine, and what kind of idiot would risk the massive spiritual backlash to their psyches and cultivation or class foundation by breaking a blood oath to a Silver, am I right?”

  Even as she said the words, her picture began to crackle and waver.

  Surprisingly, the rabbit seemed to be aware, glaring right at the trio of blood mages whose sneering countenances became looks of confusion, then alarm. “You three know the rules. Now’s the time when you slink away in the shadows and beg Master Grim to take you back.”

  “Never!” Snarled the largest of the three, clenching his fist. “Grim is nothing but a classless corpse barely able to linger in the shadows!”

  The second chortled coldly. “We have sensed his weakness. We know just how perilous a tightrope he walks between eternity and oblivion. He dare not challenge us directly, or it will be he that crumples into bones!”

  The third red robed disciple dipped his head. “We have given our blood oaths. We shall ascend farther than our former master could have ever dreamed!”

  Bunbun gazed pityingly at the trio, before tapping the lich’s skull. “We tried, Grim. The rest is on them.”

  Shelby’s eyes bulged when the skeleton that she dearly wanted to believe was just a prop, dipped his head, somehow transforming into a stately looking Moorish gentleman complete with top hat and an absolutely kickass frock coat that Shelby wanted for her collection, the Necromancer’s eyes flashing like blazing sapphires that just seemed to draw her in.

  She flashed a dazed smile, drifting away into eternity’s gaze when a tiny pat jolted her awake.

  “Not for you, Shelbs.”

  Shelby jolted upright, feeling an odd shiver caress her soul.

  Had that rabbit gazing at them all from the globe somehow… touched her?

  “Lord Song, something’s wrong!” Hissed the most outspoken blood mage.

  “The picture is snapping back into focus,” noted the second. “Impossible. We broke the seals. Grim has no hold on us any longer!”

  The third gasped, eyes bulging. “We can’t break the link… he’s still connected to us! We were deceived! It was a test, all a test!” The man’s eyes filled with desperate panic, pockmarked features filled with terror. “Mercy, Grim! We serve you always!”

  Lord Song’s cold disdain showed the faintest flicker of alarm when his trio of arcane assistants began to scream.

  Shelby curled her nose. “What’s that stink?”

  Ronald whistled. “Look at the blood mages, they can’t break free of the spell!”

  Chris hissed. “They’re flesh looks like its burning.”

  Shelby slowly shook her head. “No, babe. It’s not burning… it’s rotting. Fuck, that’s disgusting!”

  Bunbun’s smirk turned to a hard glare. “You three broke covenant, now you pay the price.”

  “Master, please save us!” Howled the closest of the Terran specialists before his cry turned to a desperate wail, his robes abruptly bursting into black flame as his flesh bubbled and boiled with pustules from which swarms of squirming maggots burst free, desperate shrieks choked off by frogs and locusts flooding from their mouths, nostrils, and ears as rotting fingers clawed at their own throats for air that wouldn’t come as they wheezed out ever more creatures of pestilence and decay in an endless death rattle, their shriveled bodies crumpling into lifeless shells of shriveled flesh and crumpling bone as the air filled with the sounds of croaking frogs, buzzing flies, and countless locusts…

  Before all vanished a heartbeat later, leaving nothing save for three empty robes. And an absolutely furious looking Song.

  “What the fucking fuck was that?” Shelby hissed.

  “Language!” Chirped the bright-eyed bunny, gently wagging her finger at the now shivering goth girl before she broke out in laughter, doing somersaults on the grimly smiling Moor’s top hat.

  Shelby furrowed her brow. “Wait. Why does he look like one of those Jamaican practitioners? Wasn’t he a skeleton?”

  Ronald slowly shook his head. “I have no fucking idea. But damn would I give anything to be his student! Wait, Shelby, they’re both staring right at us!”

  “Joking! I’m just fucking with you, Shelbs. You can say whatever you like! You’re a free woman and a Contender and deserve the chance to make the most of your wonderful gifts. Am I right? Of course I am! And you’re in luck, Ronald. Grim now has three openings, and he’s definitely looking for students with potential. I think you’d fit right in!”

  Shelby and Ronald exchanged dazed looks even as the twenty odd elites broke into urgent conversations or outright orders to kit up and head out.

  Before stopping cold when the entire chamber filled with a chilly fog.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Lord Song abruptly roared, his massive war hammer now glooming with perfect darkness radiating a foot in all directions.

  Bunbun quickly held up her hand. “A pact has been forged! One that your lackeys broke, Lord Song, but we shall keep!”

  “Only the truth shall be stated before you.” The chamber rocked with the lich’s words.

  The rabbit nodded. “And we may only entice, for so long as at least one of you is interested!”

  Immediately Shelby felt the weight of over a dozen angry glares hammering down on her, hating what her heightened Perception picked up.

  “It’s those young fools. We’re vulnerable because of them!”

  “We're best off getting rid of them now, no delays.”

  Ronald flinched at those words, Shelby’s panicked thoughts racing as she met his gaze while Chris squeezed her so tight in a panicked hot second as they formed their party chat by reflex.

  “Wait, guys, what the fuck did that asshole mean by getting rid of us now!?” Shelby pinged her companions in group chat.

  “No delays,” Ron snorted. “Oh, we are so fucked.”

  “So let us start with the enticement!” The rabbit hurried on, as if she was able to perfectly sense the turning mood of the crowd. “And then we’ll tell you why it’s totally okay to change sides and suffer no penalties at all. Of course you boys and girls can retreat through the mist this very moment, and leave these chambers no worse off than before. But if you go now before we’re through, you’ll never be free of crimson bindings tying you to a monster. So, really, the choice is up to you.”

  Then, in the blink of an eye, Shelby’s sudden fear turned to awe as she glimpsed a beautiful fairytale palace glittering like a thousand jewels before the light of the setting sun, ivory white pennants snapping in the breeze.

  “Are those elves walking down streets? All of them are smiling, looking so fucking happy,” an awed Chris said as the view began to pan out.

  Ronald whistled. “Jeez, look at that city. It’s like something out of a fairy tale! Look at all those awesome shops, those colorful villas with their tiled roofs and gardens. And is that a bakery? Look at the size of that cake in that window!” He gave an awed laugh. “It’s everything that the Renaissance Fair wants to be, yet never quite was.”

  Shelby found herself nodding as the view slowly revealed an entire magical city sparkling with mystery and wonder, and she didn’t for one second miss the massive snow white fortress that just had to be the Mistridge academy that she had heard more than one visitor whispering rumors of as their birds-eye view became them racing down a four lane highway, because someone was thinking ahead, her eyes catching sight of countless fruit groves and fields full of carefully ordered rows of walnut trees sheltering golden stalks of wheat.

  “Before you lies New Arcadia, kissing the edge of Faerie. A breadbasket that can feed both its seven million citizens and perhaps half the continent. Just one of the wonders that the Sylvan Alliance now calls it’s own.”

  “The Sylvan Alliance!” Song roared. “Admit it! This is all a recruitment pitch from Elonia Silver!” Song snarled. “She’s breaking covenant, directly interfering in my capital. Rest assured, the council will hear about this, and she will pay!”

  Bunbun snorted. “All I’m hearing is blah blah blah. Anyway, if you look below, the technological marvel full of shining buildings of glass, chrome, and Alutopaz that you see us racing toward along the road my master built is Freetown. The most technologically sophisticated city you’ll find anywhere here in North America. And that includes a well kept collection of all the best American and Japanese versions of anime and manga now forever preserved under the Blue Corp umbrella.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Ronald blinked at this. “Wait… we can watch anime again?”

  “You’d better believe it!” Bunbun cheerfully declared. “Of course, you need high end accommodations like you’ll find at the presently being rebuilt Blue Palace, or one of our other exclusive condominium complexes that come with all the amenities! Including 3-D television holograms and over a thousand completed series of your favorite anime, including all three seasons of Super Punch Man!

  Shelby scowled. “Okay, now I know you’re lying. They only ever made two seasons of—”

  “Not true, Shelbs! Freekin’ critics did everything they could to kill his bald-headed awesomeness, but the manga ran for years, and the studio was working on a third season, so of course Blue Corp rescued the survivors, brought the rights, and got season three up and running. And you better believe we’re going to do a season four! Hell yeah! And you, my delightful future friends, can sit back, relax, and enjoy every last episode of awesomeness and even dine in, enjoying some fine freekin’ steaks and ice cream sundaes… the food of kings, Eric would say, in your high end suites which you WILL get, free and clear, once you join the Sylvan Alliance! Or you could choose to enjoy the opportunity to ascend as classers just as high as you dare, making credits hand over fist while running the most profitable dungeons in the entire System!

  “All you need to do is swear a single Oath of Nonaggression against Blue Corp or any member of Clan Silver. Then you get to enjoy endless adventure, exploring twelve… that’s right, twelve delves that go down to the absolute depths of Bronze, radiating the boons of Adventurer’s Promise and Adventurer’s Paradise!”

  The rabbit gave an excited hop as the camera panned from the futuristic city of shimmering chrome and topaz to a picturesque European looking town filled with quaint, picturesque cottages and parks and luxury townhouses and shops and outdoor cafes, in addition to massive complexes clearly catering to adventurers with the ring of hammer on anvil and the cries of countless hawkers of wares and Shelby’s eyes lit with wonder as she saw scores of young men and women approaching the entrances of what could only be a delve, and a near equal amount leaving looking tired but satisfied, or with a gleam to their eyes and an outright excited spring to their step.

  “Notice anything peculiar?” The rabbit asked the audience off cool-eyed and dead silent mercs, a snarling Song, and the three excited-looking teens who clearly didn’t realize their peril.

  “They’re all geared in sweet looking equipment, and all of them look excited and happy. And none of their eyes are filled with despair!” Chris whispered.

  Shelby nodded. “Assuming this is real and not bullshit…”

  “It is,” Bunbun declared.

  She snorted. “Of course you’ll you say that. Anyway, if we’re seeing actual snapshots… I haven’t seen any fatalities yet. And look at the incredible hauls of beast carcasses and herbs radiating magical energy that I can feel, even from here!” Then she stiffened, trading looks with her friends. “No. There’s no way I should be able to feel that. Not unless…”

  “It’s a live feed. I know. Awesome, isn’t it?” Bunbun winked. “It’s actually a two way portal. You could actually step right through, if you were daring enough, but only if you belieeve…” She said, ears flopping with a cheeky grin. “Anyway, yes! Ashland is now also property of the Sylvan Alliance, with super friendly status with Blue Corp, who were gracious enough to allow us all the opportunity to bank at Blue Corp Savings and Loan, now with branches in each and every Sylvan Alliance territory!”

  “Impossible!” Lord Song spat. “The goblins alone have lawful banking charters over Terran territories! This is codiciled into Terran law, and nothing that you or your foolish master does can change that!” The deadly Silver curled his lips in a mocking grin. “Any fool that invests so much as a single silver penny into your institution will have all his wealth seized and be charged with money laundering and treason!”

  Bunbun dared to hold the furious Silver’s gaze. “One can only wonder why you’re so sure of that. It couldn’t possibly because the Inquisition has an interest in the goings on here on Earth, could it?”

  Song gave a cold chuckle, steepling his fingers with a smug grin. “Precisely, foolish homunculus. Rest assured, your master’s entire banking operation will be seized, his wealth confiscated, and he be forced to pay the ultimate price. Both he, and his sister!” He snarled the last.

  The rabbit winked. “It’s amazing that you can be so cocky when my master has a lawful charter that says otherwise. But who can blame you, when your cousin is himself an Inquisitor?”

  Song’s eyes bulged with unmistakable outrage, eyes filled with glittering hate burning into the rabbits own as the entire room swayed before his killing wrath. “Who told you such lies?”

  The rabbit chuckled. “Boy, am I glad that I inherit my master’s resistances, or my goose would have been cooked, right there! And that brings us to the other half of our discussion, boys and girls!”

  The rabbit peered out into the audience entire. “Now it’s finally time for me to explain why not only is it permissible for you to leave Song’s service free and clear of any penalties…”

  “Lies!” Song roared, pounding the armrest of his throne. “Any who dare break covenant with me will perish by my hand. But not before their foundations crack and crumble to dust! They won’t just be hindered with future advancement. Their power will become my own as I feed upon their broken souls as the crumble to a mortal’s classless stupor!”

  He flashed a ruthless smile at the dismayed looks he received. “And I will happily make any such treacherous scum eat his own entrails for the edification of any wavering fool who doubts the power of our shared oaths to watch!”

  Bunbun clapped her petite little paws. “Yay! Thanks for making it so easy, Song! See what an evil vindictive asshole he is, kids? Makes it kind of easy to see who the bad guy, is when you can work for this beautiful sweetheart…” The globe flashed with the scene of a gently smiling Elonia Silver gazing down upon them all with feelings of serenity and love… “Or this unmitigated ass!”

  The massive crimson globe taking up half the chamber… had it been that big before? Shelby wasn’t sure… suddenly panned to images of a half dozen tired looking mercenaries wearing exotic looking power armor that glowed with arcane energy, slogging through thick jungle to a clearing in the middle of nowhere.

  One of the mercs frowned. “You said Song. I don’t see His Grace in that picture.”

  “Oh, it’s coming!” The rabbit assured. “In the meantime, are any of you familiar with the mercenary group known as Rising Sun Corp?”

  Song’s features blanched, eyes widening with dismay. “No. Impossible!” His jaw clenched. “You will end this farce of a performance this instant!”

  A pair of hard-eyed mercs sipping their drinks in the back of the grand throne room traded cool glances, they alone appearing unfazed by Song’s display of raw power.

  “As a matter of fact… yes,” said the first.

  “My understanding is that they broke contract and we’re… Fuck!” The merc clenched his jaw, eyes carefully appraising a seething looking Song as the scene played out and the billowing white clouds in all the corners of the room grew in thickness and shimmering luster.

  “Rising Sun. How good of you to arrive. You’re the first company to do so. I look forward to your report,” Said none other than a coolly smiling Lord Song, legs crossed in an indulgent pose upon an iron throne placed in the middle of a clearing.

  “Lies and slander!” Roared a furious Song. “You will cease this slander right now, or the entire Terran Counsel will assure your faction’s utter destruction!”

  In response, Bunbun just put a furry digit to her nose. “Shh. Don’t ruin the surprise, Song baby!”

  “You have your report?” demanded the cool eyed Song in the vision.

  “Of course, Your Grace,” said a handsome purple-eyed man that Shelby would have fallen so hard for, if she weren’t already in love.

  “By Mullock’s beard, that’s really him!” Whispered the older mercenary in back.

  The second nodded. “Bennett. Alive and well.” he said as they continued to watch the scene play out, neither of them ignoring, any more than Shelby or her friends did, the furious hot-eyed look that their employer was giving them all.

  Looking so damned much like the glaring version of himself depicted in the orb that was interrogating Rising Sun, along with a pair of what Shelby was given to understand were imperial agents. And only a fool would miss the similarities in aquiline features and imperious stare that Song and one of the agents shared.

  Cousins, at the least. She was absolutely sure of it.

  “What can you tell me of the other companies that had joined you in triangulating the rift we sought?”

  The merc named Bennett swallowed, visibly nervous. “I’m afraid they didn’t make it, sir.”

  The cool smile on Lord Song’s face vanished into a hard-eyed glare, the pair of imperial agents now staring dead-on at the mercenaries.

  “Explain. Everything. Never mind the report. I want to heart it all from your lips. Leave no details out, Captain Bennett.”

  The man then proceeded to give an account both horrid and hair raising, where death seemed certain at every turn. Yet instead of sympathizing with them or feeling for them, Song’s glare grew ever more contemptuous. His gaze, evermore hostile.

  Shelby traded a worried glance with her lover. If this was the true nature of their employer…

  They were absolutely fucked.

  Even now, she could feel the horrid awful painful weight of his Soul twisting her own. A pain she had never experienced even once, until Ronald woke her up into being able to sense her own Soul Reserves.

  Slowly, but inevitably, the pair of inquisitors drew out the details of their more harrowing encounters, for some reason focused not on the nature of the beasts, or the likelihood of them all being overrun and slaughtered… but on the nature of their power armor?

  “We lucked out where others didn’t,” conceded one of the mercenaries, his gentle eyes filled with regret. “It’s a miracle we survived that delve, and I’ll always be grateful for the treasures we retrieved.”

  The slimy Inquisitor Shelby didn’t trust one bit steepled his fingers and nodded sympathetically. “Indeed those enchanted power armored suits are impressive. One can almost imagine that a lesser man might think it worth daring delves with wanted criminals guilty of multiple high crimes and acts of terrorism.”

  The Merc’s easygoing flow of words cut off with a sudden look of alarm. “Woah, hold on a minute there, bud! We never delved with any terrorists!”

  The formerly kindly-looking Inquisitor’s smile suddenly revealed all his teeth, just like Shelby had known that he eventually would. “The are you formally denying ever meeting or interacting with one Ernest ‘Edgelord’ Slaughter?”

  Shelby flinched at that name. She turned to Chris. “Where have I heard that before?”

  Her man shook his head, having no answer.

  The other Inquisitor sneered, seeming to take in the entire audience, as if he were glaring down at everyone watching this horrific travesty of justice, playing on the globe.

  “Guilty as sin. All of them!”

  “Yes, we did run into a Terran by that name,” Bennet boldly declared, stepping in front his flustered friend. “He offered us a legitimate contract and we accepted, which is exactly per the Terran Accords!”

  Shel winced. Didn’t that idiot realize he was walking into a verbal trap? And fuck, that dead-eyed smirk, so like Lord Song’s own, made it all so obvious!

  “Really? Are you claiming the Terran Accords gave you the right to aid and abet a known swindler in stealing a fortune and claiming a city that by rights belongs to the Bloodtear Syndicate?”

  The second Inquisitor nodded, looking every bit as ruthless as the one that looked so much like her boss. “We have survivor’s accounts depicting the use of multiple undead revenants used in the unjust slaughter of administrators, barristers, and the soldiers valiantly defending their lives.”

  The smirking Inquisitor’s hands flashed, revealing a vellum document that seemed to pulse with blood and silent screams.

  Shelby lurched back in horror, surprised and maybe a bit relieved to sense half the mercenaries gazing at it with looks of wild-eyed outrage. Different from the awful dread she felt, but at least She wasn’t imagining how foul and tainted it felt… even from a recording playing on a globe of shimmering blood.

  “Here is an account of what really happened the day that Blue Federation broke all law and precedent, conspiring with wanted terrorists and criminals to steal a city, a fortune in gold, and slaughter hundreds of political opponents.”

  “A travesty of justice!” His partner roared.

  Song’s relative nodded his agreement. “And this is a document that you all will acknowledge and sign, binding your very souls to its authenticity and legitimacy as the first step in making amends for your many, many transgressions.” The man flashed a pitiless smile. “Not that it will avail you mercy or leniency, mind you. Your crimes are far too significant for that. But your compliance will at least aid us in delivering Freetown to the hands of its rightful owner, and this is just the tip of the reparations that the fallen Blue will be paying to the aggrieved parties, we assure you!”

  Bennett’s eyes flashed with sudden heat. Far from being cowed, Rising Sun's commander looked furious. “This is outrageous! Terra's an ascending world and is in open contention! Territory conquest by any means is permitted and perfectly lawful for any and all native-born Contenders to engage in! Furthermore, we were hired for treasure reclamation and had no truck with any faction warfare, in any case! You think we're fools? You think we can't see how you're twisting events and precedents to suit your own objectives? Clearly, you're in the goblin faction’s pockets! We demand immediate legal represen—”

  The air rang with Captain Bennet and his companion’s screams as whatever privacy barrier they had been using was pierced by cold-eyed thugs with grey skin unlike anyone Shel had ever seen working for Song that nonetheless stormed into the closed of pavilion and began beating the everloving crap out of Bennett and his companions.

  “Shit!” The instant Chris whispered it… Shel knew what he meant. While they were staring at that awful, awful display… Song could have grey skinned psychopaths surrounding them even now.

  Yet to her chagrin and relief, when she spun around, she was joined by absolutely everyone watching that awful display of treachery and malice. Yet no army of thugs wielding crackling batons waited for them.

  There was only the billowing mist that the rabbit had said something about… as Song’s voice echoing through the entire chamber.

  “Lies! All of it! Foul, concocted lies! You will pay a steep price for this outrage, oh yes you will!” The man roared, before his voice was drowned out by a far louder, stereoscopic version of himself.

  “No, do not kill them! Remove their armor carefully! They must be alive and consent to surrender for their treasures to be successfully rebonded!”

  All of them spun back around to see Lord Song gazing at them all, wild-eyed and seething, his war hammer possessing an absolutely crushing aura, the massive seven-foot long shaft with a head radiating the crushing weight of a neutron star core, which should be absolutely impossible without destroying them all, yet the malevolent look in the ruby eyes of the dragon etched into the impossible alloy made it clear that such was very, very possible.

  Yet even more intimidating than the look of that dread artifact was the wild glittering light in Lord Song’s eyes.

  “Lies. ALL OF IT! Our enemy DARES to strike me in my very sanctum sanctorum! Now you will kit up, all of you, and you will purge that pustulant dwarf and his allies from my city, and you will do it NOW!”

  The entire chamber was frozen in that horrific tableau.

  “Lord Song,” whispered the most senior of the mercenaries radiating the strength of a well-honed Bronze. “I would formally ask you to reveal Rising Sun corp employment records… so that we may put an end to our opponent’s baseless slander.”

  Lord Song stiffened, eyes filling with unmitigated hate while the rabbit spoke on.

  “But wait, there’s more!” Bunbun said with a too cheerful smile. “That’s not the end of Rising Sun corp. Nope!” That’s what comes next! And just a quick heads up before the psychopath who thinks he owns your soul totally loses his cool. You can leave at any time through the mist, infused with my master’s blood magic! If you feel that your employer has BROKEN FAITH with you, then his bindings are void and they will slip free of your soul! And just in case you have any lingering doubts…

  Shel’s heart hammered as she beheld as sight she never expected to see outside the worst movies of a lifetime ago. If her excitement had turned to dismay and a growing sense of dread before… it had just blossomed to outright dismay.

  The air filled with furious curses as Shel beheld a ring of crosses in the middle of a desert upon which a handful of men and women had been crucified, all of them with awful looking helmets fused to their skulls, all of them writhing and screaming in unthinkable agony, their spasms tearing at the tainted spikes radiating foul magic that had been hammered into their wrists, ankles, and knees.

  “Fucking hell, they’re sacrificing Rising Sun!” Whispered a horrified mercenary as the air grew thick with killing intent, a wild-eyed Song no longer bothering to defend himself against the accusations playing out before them all.

  “No. It’s worse,” Whispered one of the corp leaders. “That force field in the center of the pentagram. It contains a Hyperion Core bomb! Some psychotic fuck was using their Bronze Cores to stabilize a Hyperion Core just long enough to…” The mercenary shook his head in confusion. “But this makes no sense. None! We’re here to conquer Earth, what madman would risk destroying us all?”

  “Fuck, look! Just beyond the glare. The same pair of inquisitors as from before!” Another squinting mercenary pointed through the painful glare, even as the crimson globe panned to the pair of Inquisitors.

  The closest one cursed even as he twisted his gauntlet, generating a crimson field even as the Rising Sun corp screamed, their skin beginning to smoke and blister under the shockingly toxic radiation.

  “Hyperion Radiation! How?” Snarled the closest Inquisitor who looked so much like Song as he turned to glare down at the monstrosity of wires and containment fields radiating the promise of absolute destruction. “The cores are safely contained!”

  The other glared into the distance, before cursing and turning his head. “It no longer matters, Adolf. We need to leave. Now!”

  Adolf snarled, glaring at the groaning bodies, shuddering as they wept and begged for mercy. “It must be Ernest Slaughter. There’s no one else it could be! He alone had both access and exposure. That damned boy DID destroy Sapphira 3 with a Hyperion Core. This will serve as our witnessed proof!”

  “It is absolutely perfect!” The shorter man forced a bitter chuckle. “And now our report will be flawless. The fool acquired the most illegal of contraband and tainted an entire world before ultimately destroying his own planet to such a catastrophic degree that the galaxy will shudder with its passing!”

  Adolf sighed. “It’s a shame. I so wanted to see the look on the brat’s face when he caught sight of the elven slut, forced to appreciate just how dearly anyone who trucks with our foes will be made to suffer before he loses both his life and his home.” Song’s cousin then flashed a cold smile at the writhing mercenaries, sauntering over to the quietly sobbing elf, before clenching her mangled flesh and tearing off her ring finger, eliciting a tormented scream.

  “Please! Mercy!”

  The sadist gazed up at the writhing victim spraying blood from her fresh wound upon his face and laughed. “I’m afraid here’s where we say goodbye, little treasure. I just wanted you to know that you have less than handful of minutes to live before this entire world is obliviated, and Ernest Slaughter is entirely at fault. How does it feel to know that your former lover has doomed you and all your friends?”

  “We are guilty nothing, you sadistic monsters!” Wheezed a dying Bennett. “It’s you who are reponsible for this madness. You would would destroy an entire planet out of spite! If the empress knew just how far you monsters, her pet toys, had fallen —”

  His words cut off with a scream when the other inquisitor rammed a crackling rod into his bruised ribs.

  “As much as I would dearly love to continue this conversation… as much as I would have so enjoyed seeing the look on Ernest’s face while he is forced to savor absolute terror, knowing that an entire world was doomed, that it was utterly beyond his ability to save, and he had no one to blame but himself as our delightful toy ticked down to its final seconds… I’m afraid we will have to miss the show.”

  The inquisitor flashed a cold, supercilious smile. “But do tell him that Nazem Song sends his regards.”

  A heartbeat later, the brilliant blinding image faded to a pulsating crimson orb, normal-sized once more.

  All that could be heard were the ragged breaths of men and women forced to glimpse firsthand just how horrific the consequences of a single poor employment choice could be.

  And there Lord Song was, glaring at them all, denying nothing. Just shivering with what an increasingly panicked Shel was absolutely sure was a killing frenzy.

  “Is it true?” Whispered a voice that should have known to say nothing at all.

  All of them frozen in that awful tableau.

  A knife’s edge between life and death…

  The calm before the storm.

  Song’s furious tremble turned to cold, mocking laughter, eyes blazing with inconceivable hate.

  “Every last word.” The man flashed a bloody smile, before roaring his fury. “You will pay for this, Ernest Edgelord! Eric Silver! Whoever you really are, you will pay for this in blood!”

  Half the mercenaries stumbled before the crimson glare of a Silver revealing a killing aura, and so much more.

  Shel’s heart was pounding, feeling that same panic she had felt for the heartbeat her asshole joking brother had almost shoved her into the bear pen. Having seen, for just a heartbeat under its playful antics, the fierce predator looking out from behind that half-wild bear’s eyes. A savage killer in a clown suit that was beyond eager to savor fresh human meat.

  Of course her brother had jerked her up again and laughed it off, before being grounded for the weekend. Yet no matter how he had mocked her for not being able to take a joke, the months in therapy at her doctor’s office had made her appreciate just how perilous life could be.

  Of course she had forced herself to take everything she had experienced since the apocalypse as an especially cruel joke. Even a game, of sorts, with the System, being able to level up, and how cheap most lives seemed to be while working for Song. Maybe the biggest mistake she had ever made, even if it was her only way of getting through the day.

  Only now… now she felt like she had well and truly fallen right into the bear’s den. But there was no brother to catch her as the chamber rang with the crunching footsteps of gray-skinned men wielding thick maces and cracklling truncheons just like the ones in the recording.

  Right then and there, she knew she was royally fucked.

  “Shel. You can feel it, right?”

  Her eyes prickled with the hot sting of tears as she jerked a nod.

  “Song’s a Contender.”

  She choked back a sob. “I know, Ron. I feel it too.”

  “He hid it from us!”

  “I know.”

  “Fuck!” Chris groaned. “There’s only one reason why he would do that!”

  “Is he going to kill us, now?”

  “Probably.”

  Song flashed a positively blood-curdling smile, the air filled with his cruel laughter. “So be it! An end to this farce! You fools have served your purposes quite well. Ripe fruit, now to be plucked and savored. And my prizes will be all the sweeter as I revel in the depths of your despair!”

  The pair of elites in back exchanged cool nods, as if somehow prepared for even this outcome even as their men roared protest, eyes wide with disbelief.

  “Black Sun!” roared one.

  “Alpha Seven!” Snapped the other, the pair waiting only long enough for half their men to catch their gazes before they all seemed to disappear in unison.

  Even if the less experienced half were just as flatfooted as Shelby and her companions.

  “It’s all true?”

  “Lord Song’s a psychopath!”

  “Why the fuck did we let him talk us out of having sidearms at all times?”

  “Shit, his goons are closing!”

  The air hummed with a distant eerie crackle.

  Lord Song’s former look of dignified outrage had long since become one of mocking contempt, the mask torn free at last. His lips stretched wide, revealing unexpected fangs.

  “My entire palace is now secure. No lesser art can hope to penetrate it! Which mean’s there’s nowhere for you fools to run.” He turned to his cold-eyed grey men. “cleave off their limbs. I will take care of the children.”

  “Ready yourselves!” Roared the closest handful of mercs, even as the grey-skinned men smiled, revealing blackened, serrated teeth.

  “And now the final card is revealed, your master’s betrayal complete, and you are free!” Cried the rabbit as the seemingly inert orb crackled back to life, its earlier snark replaced with a plea both desperate and urgent. “Flee into the mist that overconfident fool failed to dispel! Flee now, while it lasts, and you’ll slip to wherever you like in this city! But we can only hold it up for another handful of seconds! And if you’re looking for fresh employment… Ping Bunbun or the Sylvan Alliance!”

  “No! There will be no escape for my sacrifices! Their bodies and souls are mine forever!” Song roared, eyes glittering with fury as his war hammer blazed with Dominion’s furious weight, the monster no longer suppressing his horrifically potent aura as he smashed the pulsating globe with a deafening roar as the entire chamber rang with the shattering of a shockingly priceless ruby.

  Men screamed as they were perforated by shrapnel, the air ringing with the awful thuds of crackling truncheons and massive leaden maces pounding desperately pleading flesh… but Shel didn’t look back. Didn’t dare look back, as she embraced Shadow and Confusion, hands tightly holding her best friend and lover as she darted into the mist, trading a single glance with a pair of desperate mercenaries before mist was replaced by damp fog and she lurched into a lushly appointed ballroom filled with baroque art, gilded finery, and a handful of shockingly beautiful men and women wearing 18th century attire with the prettiest crimson eyes she had ever seen.

  Ronald’s eyes widened with wonder, gazing with awe at the top hat and frock coat wearing man with a silver cane held in his graceful hand. Hardly looking like a skeleton at all, Shelby thought.

  “It’s him. It’s really him!”

  “Oh fuck, that was way too close!” Chris sobbed, wrapping his arms tightly around Shelby even as Ronald quickly fell to his knees before the massive towering giant of a Moore.

  “Please take me as your apprentice, great one! I’m… my name is Ronald Williams and I’m answering your call!”

  The man known as Grim filled the chamber with his booming laughter even as the shockingly beautiful woman with a tiny tiara mounting her lush curls quirked a teasing smile promising delicious secrets and wondrous vice.

  “So glad to see that my dear lover’s plan actually worked! And we have before us not one but three innocent Contenders only teasing at darkness.” She gently patted a stunned Shelby’s cheek. “It’s alright, darling. You’re safe now. And you’ll look absolutely delicious, properly made up with gown and make-up that actually suits your skin tone.”

  The devastatingly beautiful woman actually winked at her!

  “Come, child. By the time we’re through, your man will be proposing to you before the night’s out. I guarantee it.”

  Shelby blinked, her dazed confusion now becoming wonder when a rather self-possessed rabbit hopped from between the pair of stately beings to gaze right at Shelby with a satisfied nod.

  “Bunbun at your service, Shelbs. So glad you decided to accept our invite!” She winked at the three overwhelmed youths. “So, whose up for joining team Silver? Elonia and Eric are both taking recruits, and they’re actually the same team! But don’t tell the System that. Ha ha. That’s a joke. Anyway, come, come! You kiddos have to be exhausted, and in need of some choice entertainment! My master’s about to give old Song the smackdown, and I just made some fresh buttery popcorn, so let’s watch together!”