Asher was admittedly more than a little surprised when Top Hat actually came through with his payout, congratulating him on his winnings and letting him know the arena hoped to see him around. Six hundred thousand shards was a massive amount outside of noble circles, but seeing as the odds had been two-to-one in favor of Brutalizer, the arena’s own home champion and favorite to win, Asher wondered just how much money the underground fight ring had ended up making from that one fight alone. Thousands of people must have put quite a number of shards down on Brutalizer, thinking they were about to make a quick and easy payday, only for the bookies to collect all that money.

  Grateful that he was addicted to battle rather than gambling, Asher walked back over to the bad-smelling tunnel and replaced the Eternal Mark he’d originally had there. He’d probably try and find a better location for Vildelph’s mark at some point, but for now, that tunnel was better than randomly appearing beside Top Hat when he inevitably wanted to return to the city.

  Six hundred thousand shards richer than he had been an hour ago, he found Samantha in the quickly dispersing crowd, those who had won big eager to get outside and spend their riches, while those who had lost their shards were shambling home in a despondent haze. Samantha still looked a bit green around the gills from how Moxy had taken her opponent down, and Asher couldn't really blame her. He had been amazed by the lack of shards floating over Brutalizer’s body, indicating that the warrior had somehow managed to survive having his lungs blasted apart long enough for the healers to get to him. Even so, despite not actually killing her opponent, anyone who witnessed that battle would have gotten a first-hand view of how Moxy handled herself during a true battle.

  With near-deranged excitement and an almost too-eager desire to take down her opponents fast and hard.

  “So… what did you think?” Asher asked, realizing how stupid the question sounded the moment the words left his mouth.

  “She’s certainly a strong fighter,” Samantha admitted, giving him a strained smile. “And her healing would come in handy. It’s just that…”

  “She’s a bit much,” he finished for her, getting a nod in return.

  “Yeah. A bit much.” Letting out a tired sigh, Samantha shook her head. “I’m trying really hard not to write her off before even talking to her, but that battle was something else. I guess I’ve never really witnessed fights between two different warriors with powerful elements before, and it was certainly educational to see. But anyone we ask to join our cause against The Council of Death also needs to be someone we can deal with while we’re not fighting, you know?”

  “Don’t worry, I get what you mean. Though that’s just one more reason why I should finally introduce you to her. I think having only seen Moxy fight, after everything you’ve already heard about her, probably didn’t do a ton for your mental image of her. But chatting with her, seeing that she’s not some sort of deranged lunatic, would probably be a good next step. She used to bring me breakfast while I was stuck in Loratta’s compound, and we’d eat together while she taught me how to fight better. She’s definitely got a bit of a one-track mind, but she’s not crazy.”

  “I love you, Asher, and I trust your judgement. But don’t forget you’re a tiny bit wild yourself when it comes to how much you love fighting,” Samantha pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him. “I’m not sure if I can trust your biased opinion on this.”

  “Oh, wait a moment,” he said, realizing there was a simple enough solution for that while they waited for Moxy to reemerge from the fight-prep room she’d vanished into. “You were just telling me how I should try getting used to using Incorporate’s second tier ability more, right? Want to see our interactions and judge for yourself?”

  “Huh… Yeah, that would probably help put me at ease, actually,” Samantha said, blinking at the idea. “Whenever you’re ready.”

  Carefully thinking about what he wanted to show her, Asher placed a hand against her forehead, activating the second tier of Incorporate and gently pushing a select handful of memories he had from his time spent with Moxy into Samantha's head. How she’d brought him porridge each morning, eating with him as she explained all about things he didn’t know, like the first few stages of elemental advancement. How she would pause in the middle of their fights every so often to tell him what he needed to do differently or call him out whenever he was doing something that would potentially get him killed out in the real world. How she’d originally reacted when Loratta had revealed her plan to send him on what he now knew had been a suicide mission against Draken and his coalition. Moxy hadn’t been privy to the fact that the mission was intended to get him killed, and she’d spoken up as much as she dared, trying to convince Loratta that it was a bad idea. He had far more memories of getting bruised and beaten by Moxy’s hand while they sparred, but he still had plenty of calmer ones that showed the woman’s character that he could share with Samantha to ease her concerns.

  Incorporate - Lvl 25

  Well, that’s about as much proof as I needed that I should be doing this far more often, Asher thought, carefully watching their surroundings as Samantha lived through his memories with her eyes closed.

  Samantha viewed the chosen memories one after another, slowly nodding a few seconds later once they were done. “Alright. I’ll admit, that makes me feel a lot better about this whole thing. Seeing that she’s calm and capable of making rational decisions when she’s not fighting to the death really helped. You probably should have started with that.”

  “No kidding. I’ll try and remember to use the skill more often,” he promised.

  Just then, he finally spotted what they’d been waiting for. Stepping out of the fight-prep room, Moxy turned and headed over to Top Hat, chatting with the man and presumably collecting her winnings, or however the fighting worked down here. Just because she fought for the sake of fighting, didn’t mean she didn’t need shards just as much as everyone else.

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  Unable to help himself, Asher asked Samantha to stay where she was before walking over toward their target. Slipping into the astral, he waited for her to finish her business with Top Hat and move to enter one of the side tunnels before he popped out of existence barely ten feet from her.

  “Hey there!”

  Blinking, Moxy lowered her fists that had snapped up before she’d even realized what was happening. As her eyes scanned over his face, her own went from shock, to confusion, to excitement as she let out a familiar, barking laugh.

  “Runt! What are you doing here?” she asked, walking up to him and slapping him non-too-gently on the back. “Come to watch me take down that ogre?”

  “Actually, yeah,” he admitted, sharing her smile as he pointed at Top Hat’s booth. “You just earned me a massive number of shards, so thanks for that.”

  “Aww, you bet on me?” Moxy asked, chuckling as her grin only grew wider. “You shouldn’t have. Anyway, how have you been? Last I saw you, you were running like a chicken without a head deeper into Loratta’s collapsing compound, off to fight an opponent you had no way of actually beating. Gotta say, I’d pretty much written you off for dead.”

  “You didn’t hear about anything after that?” he asked, surprised by her admittance. “About what happened to Loratta? Or the Guild after that?”

  “Nah, I don’t really care about politics or any of that crap,” Moxy said, waving a hand dismissively. “You know me, I just want to fight. I left Whikoga that same night, came straight to Vildelph and started fighting down here. Haven’t heard a thing about the city since then.”

  “Wow… Well, a lot has happened since then,” Asher admitted, wondering where to even start. Realizing there was a simple enough answer to that, he turned and motioned for Samantha to come join them. With a hesitant look on her face, despite having already quasi-met Moxy through Asher’s memories, Samantha stepped up beside him. “Moxy, this is my girlfriend, Samantha. She’s the one I wanted the Water element for.”

  “No kidding? Well, glad I managed to get that into his hands before I left,” she said, giving Samantha a slight nod of her head.

  “It’s good to finally meet you,” Samantha said, returning the nod and offering her a small smile. “Asher’s actually told me a lot about you. Thanks for helping him learn how to better defend himself.”

  “I taught him a lot more than just self defense,” Moxy said, snorting as she gestured at the surrounding cavern. “So what, is this some sort of date, then? I mean, I think that sounds like an awesome idea for a night out, but you don’t strike me as the type.”

  “It’s not so much a date as a potential job offer, to be honest,” Asher said, wishing they’d spent more time coming up with exactly how to word this. “Seeing as you just took down the most dangerous fighter Vildeph’s underground ring had, I sort of figured you’d be looking for something new. Any chance you might be interested in joining up with us for a bit?”

  “Alright, I’ll admit, that’s not where I thought this conversation was going,” Moxy said, looking at least a little intrigued as she crossed her arms. “What are you guys, some sort of slayer team? I’ve fought the occasional monster here and there, but I’m honestly more of a man-to-man fighter, if you know what I mean.”

  “We don’t fight monsters, exactly,” Asher said, glancing around them. The arena was mostly empty at this point, but there was still the occasional person walking by here or there. Throwing up a quick Spatial Lock to block noise, he continued. “Have you ever heard of The Council of Death?”

  “Nope. What is that, a band of bards who weren’t hugged enough when they were kids?”

  “It’s a group of ancient, powerful liches who cause havoc and destruction whenever they feel like it,” Samantha said, her tone growing cold as her face hardened. “They’re after Asher, and one of them specializes in summoning demons. We’ve gotten pretty good at taking down imps and lesser demons, but the one greater demon Asher fought was almost too much, even with the element of surprise on his side, and now we’ve caught wind that the lich has already summoned two more.”

  “So you’re looking for muscle?” Moxy asked, raising an eyebrow. “You sound pretty mad, despite the fact that your boyfriend looks perfectly fine.”

  “They burned down my village and killed just about everyone I ever knew,” Samantha said bluntly.

  “Damn, I really should pay more attention to the news,” Moxy said, her brow shooting up. “So this is a vengeance thing then.”

  “It’s sort of both,” Asher admitted. “I can’t tell you why, exactly, unless you join us, but the liches have a personal interest in me specifically. They’re going to keep coming after me, which is why we decided to bring the fight to them instead. But yeah, to do that, we need some additional muscle. People I know I can trust.”

  “Runt, you knew me for all of four days,” Moxy snorted. “While I’m flattered, what makes you think I’d just drop whatever I’m doing and come help you guys out? Sure, the idea of beating the nine hells out of some demons does sound kinda fun, but I’ve got my own life to live. I’ve been approached by military recruiters, captains in charge of noble guard squads, and even a weird guy covered from head to toe in shadows at one point. None of their offers sounded all that appealing, and I told them all to pound sand. Why should I join up with you?”

  “I thought you might say that,” Asher said, raising a hand before pausing. “Mind if I touch your forehead? I have a skill that I can use to show you some of the fights I’ve had with the demons in the past.”

  “Sure, go nuts,” Moxy shrugged. “Though if you do anything else, I doubt I have to tell you how I’ll knock your teeth out.”

  Nodding, Asher laid a hand on Moxy’s forehead, using Incorporate to share with her a few select memories his mind had immediately gone to when he thought about what would get Moxy’s blood pumping. His first encounter with the greater demon and how his attacks had been completely negated before it ate both his hand and mithral dagger and tore his arm off at the elbow. The many fights he’d had against groups of lesser demons, taking them out one at a time while dodging the others’ attacks. Cutting his way through swarms of imps, emerging out of the other end covered in blood and panting with excitement. He even included the memory of how he’d finally taken down the first greater demon once and for all. How he’d narrowly won, at the cost of having his body ripped in half. If Moxy was going to join them, he was going to have to reveal most of his skills sooner or later anyway, so he didn’t hold back. She already knew about most of his Spatial skills anyway, it was really only his Eternal Regeneration and Sever the Thread she was still in the dark about.

  Moxy was silent for nearly a full minute as she let his memories play out in her head with her eyes closed. He had no doubt she was envisioning what she would have done in his stead if she’d been the one fighting the demons instead of him, and the greater demon was undoubtedly far stronger than any pathetic human opponent she’d ever faced off against. Finally, her eyes shot open, and Asher knew at that moment they’d found their first new teammate.

  “Alright then!” she said, a fire burning in her eyes as her maniacal grin stretched out full force across her face. “When do I start?”

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