This went to shit real fast.

  James and I were supposed to stick together, but it went to chaos the moment we arrived. It’s clear there is something else at play here.

  Dardania and I are currently ducked behind a building hiding from the Light and Death Touched who attacked us the moment we arrived at the church. Before we had a chance to enact our plan they were coming at us full force.

  “I think I saw Tate being taken out to the platform in the city square.” Dardania said through bated breath.

  “Dammit.” I smash my fist into the wall. “What the fuck happened back there?”

  Things keep falling apart right in front of me and it’s starting to piss me off. Can’t a single plan just happen without a hitch?

  “Breaking your hand Avis won’t fix this. We just need to get those two out of the way.”

  Dardania looks around the corner, trying to find the members of The Touched. I pull my knife out of my sheath, spin them around my finger, and grip it.

  “Why wait?” I move to rush out but Dee grabs me and slams me back to the ground.

  “Because we don’t want to die, you bonehead.” Dardania pushes me to the side and continues keeping an eye out.

  “We need a plan, we can’t just rush against two of the Touched and expect to make it out unscathed. Especially since the two trying to kill us also have cards as well.”

  I let out of a frustrated sigh.

  “Get over it. You will have plenty of time to punch someone soon.”

  Before I even have time to register that thought, Dardania shoves me backwards and immediately dives away from the building. A giant axe slams into the wall and gets wedged in between the bricks. The Light Touched tries to pull her axe out of the wall, but fails. After a few seconds, she gives up.

  “Gust.” Dardania spins around, swinging her foot up with the force of the wind and knocks the Light Touched off balance just in time for me to flip over her and go for the kill.

  I swing my knife over head, aiming straight for her throat. I’m not missing my chance this time. Before I have the chance to reach her, a chain slings in front of me, my knife colliding with the chain rather than her. I immediately jump back, distancing myself from her and our interloper.

  The Death Touched jerks their arm back, pulling the chain with it.

  “The Order’s Most Wanted all in one place. The Saint has blessed us this day.” The Death Touch beams.

  “Oh please, that pansy hasn’t blessed anyone.” I roll my eyes. These people have lost their freaking minds.

  “No one shall speak ill of the Saint in the presence of The Touched.” the Light Touched responds as she pushes off and darts towards me. “Incinerate.” Dardania says in response. The Light Touched skids to a halt, immediately creating an opening. I drop down, and immediately sweep the legs causing her to flip backwards, landing the wrong way, snapping her neck.

  The Death Touched tried to interfere, but the moment his chains move Dardania makes them heavy and they smash into the ground.

  “Focus on me.” Dardania says as she steps between the two of us.

  I stand back up and wait for the Light Touched to come back to life. I just need to keep killing her long enough for the wheel to spin around and crush her rather than help her.

  She groans in pain as she climbs back to her feet, stretching her neck in every direction.

  “Gross.” I mutter as her neck cracks multiple times. “That’s just… gross.”

  I try to check on Dardania to make sure she is fairing well against The Death Touched but the moment I turn away a fist collides with my face.

  I’m flung backwards, through a wooden stall, and into a dress shop. I try to move but every fiber of my being aches.

  My former stab wound starts to burn. I don’t know if it’s real or just in my head, but at the moment I can’t tell the difference. I push through the pain and slowly climb to my feet.

  The impact alone hurt so much that I didn’t even notice until now that I had tiny cuts all over my body from smashing through the window. I hear a small gasp behind me. I turn to see a woman and a small child cowering in the corner.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “Are you okay?” I ask as I reach towards them to make sure they aren’t hurt.

  “Get away from us!” The woman screams as she pulls the child into her and wraps her arms around her.

  I stumble backwards, taken aback. I was the one thrown through the window, why would they be scared of me?

  I turn to see the Light Touched slowly working her axe out of the side of the building.

  “Ah.” It’s cause I’m going against the Order, it’s that simple for them. I turn back towards them.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. You should get out of here though so you don’t get hurt.” I say softly before climbing back out the window.

  The psycho with a giant axe has managed to get her hands on it again, and I’m still over here with two simple knives. This is not a fight I want to repeat again, it didn’t exactly end well last time.

  “Without your sister, you’re nothing.” She sneers.

  “Yeah, I’m aware.” I respond, pushing off and dash straight towards her. She pulls the axe back, spinning it around to gain momentum and slings it right at me. I dive over it, missing it by mere centimeters. I was close enough to it to be able to see the magical etchings on the handle and blade, must be how it changes size. I dive into a roll as I make impact with the ground, not wasting any time I go for a thrust right at her jugular.

  She knocks the blade out of the way, but I had another right behind it, and I drive it deep into her throat. She falls backwards slamming into the ground with a loud thud.

  A pool of blood starts to form around her but after a few moments, the blood starts to seep back into her body and she comes back to life. I cross my legs as I wait for her. After a few seconds she finally sits back up.

  “Why the fuck do you do it? Dying and coming back to life has to suck, and you keep doing it for that piece of shit. Why?”

  “I’d do anything for my Saint.” She says as she rubs her neck gently, massaging the muscles around where I stabbed her. Does it still hurt? I’m guessing the revival isn’t perfect.

  “And would he do the same for you? Die over and over again?”

  “I don’t need him to. He has done more than enough for this world and I’d happily die for him as many times as necessary.”

  “Eventually that card won’t bring you back.”

  “When that happens, The Ancients will know I was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for my Saint and for the world.”

  “You’re fucking bonkers.” I stand up and begin walking towards her axe, which was now stuck inside the side of someone’s stall. I took this chance to glance back to Dardania and she was locked in a fairly balanced clash. Without a puppet to manipulate he doesn’t seem nearly as powerful as before. Or perhaps we’ve gotten better since then.

  I grip the handle of the axe and pull it out of the cart and it immediately falls to the ground with a loud clank.

  “Holy shit how much does this weigh?” I continue to pull at it, but I can barely make it budge.

  As the Light Touched slowly walks towards me, she pulls up her sleeves showing the same magical symbols that are etched on the axe are tattooed on her arms as well.

  “Ah, I see.” I let go of the handle and start walking back towards her. “I guess I will just have to keep using my knives. Fine by me.”

  * * * * *

  Avis seems to be handling himself just fine against the Light Touched, so thankfully I can focus all of my attention on the Death Touched in front of me.

  Ever since Enkidu I’ve tried to figure out what other abilities he may have, but I have come up empty. During the entire fight with Madison he used Apate as his puppet and not once showed any skills of his own. That makes this fight that more difficult.

  “Heav-” Before I even get the chance to finish my spell, his chains return to center and a random citizen from the town is dangling in between the two of us. What a coward move, to use a random bystander as a shield.“I suppose the Order really doesn’t have any shame do they?” I ask rhetorically.

  I take a step back, there is nothing I can do as long as this person floats between the two of us. I don’t imagine that his power will run out anytime soon since I have yet to see any kind of foreseeable limit in the power of the Arcana. It appears that they would tire themselves out physically before their magic control begins to wane.

  If I had the ability to use Prisha’s magic, this would probably be much easier to do. Unfortunately I was never quite able to master it, but that was my own impatience at play. I was in a hurry to rescue Avis and therefore only learned the more basic version of it. Though in the time since, I have mastered my control over this type of magic, granting me greater control.

  “Shatter.” My words slash against the chains connecting the bystander to the Death Touched. Sparks fly as the spell collides, but it doesn’t break.

  I continue to dodge their attacks, trying everything in my power to ensure that I don’t react reflexively.

  “Shatter.” Again, my spell slams against the chains, but they don’t break. I refuse to give up though. I don’t know what else to do, and I can’t attack either of them. If I attack them, then I hurt some civilian bystander. If I attack him, he will just use them as a human shield. There is no winning here.

  “Shatter!” I scream this time, my voice booms through the city street, the ground vibrating as my words ripple through every surface. It’s quickly followed by a sound of thunder as my words collide with the chain, sheering the links apart, separating the person from the Touched.

  They quickly fall to the ground, I rush in, slide to my knees and catch them before then can hit the ground. They look up to me, utterly terrified.

  “If you can stand, you need to run and get away from here. Can you stand?” The girls nods her head as I help her to her feet and push her to run away.

  Before the Death Touched can make another move I step between them.

  “Shatter.” My words collide with the ends of the chains as they attempt to fly past me, causing them to bounce backwards towards the Touched.

  “I’m sure the Ancients would love such a cowardice way of fighting. They will never allow you walk along side of them.”

  “I have made peace with my sins and I will use those sins to serve the Order and The Saint, that is why I’m the Death Touched, because I am a dead man walking.”

  “I fully intended to kill you either way, your explanation changes nothing. It just goes to show that you were a vile person before, and you still are now. Now shatter!”