I watched in shock as three of my punishers were taken out in an instant. This was not the first time I had seen allies fall. I had been in wars against eldritch horrors and their minions. But this time it felt different. That was it. I wasn’t just an emotionless being swimming in the deep darkness of death. I felt things now. And those feelings made my jaw clench. My fingers curled up. My lips curled into a snarl. And my eyes locked onto the damned mage that had shot those balls of fire at my people. How dare it try to take the lives of my people. They were mine. Something told me the feelings I was feeling were not rational. I shut that part off. The damned looked at me in rage. I returned the look.

  “Your Highness,” Whily wheezed.

  My eyes shot down to the downed punisher and my mind cleared a bit.

  The damned cackled. “That's right. Say your goodbyes, mortal.”

  My lips started to curl into a snarl. My mana roiled inside me, pushing me to act. I calmed myself. I couldn't let go next to the downed punisher. Just a hint of death would finish the job the damned mage had started. No, I needed to be smart.

  The punisher coughed out blood. “Run.”

  “No.” My voice was deeper. Sterner with all the rage that was bubbling inside me. I raised my hand to cover Whily’s mouth. My hand met something hard and unyielding and stopped inches away from the punisher.

  “A preserver,” Whily grunted, twisting with a pained hiss to show a thumbnail-sized white and red ceramic circle dug into his collar. He clamped a hand over the wound on his chest. Blood still seeped between his fingers. He coughed, spitting flecks of red onto the dirt. “Your Highness, you have to run. Our artifacts will keep us alive for a time, but you’re unprotected.”

  I glared down at the injured man. “I am not leaving you all.”

  Whily looked at me and flinched a bit at what he saw in my eyes. The sclera of my eyes had turned black, and my irises had started glowing silver. I could see their reflection in the pained pupils of Whily’s eyes. I turned from Whily to look at the other two punishers. They were cocooned in transparent shields of their own. Damned clawed at their shields. Their long fingernails glanced off. Grek was stirring, but Stone laid unmoving on the ground.

  “Don’t worry about them, death caster. They will live long enough to see you burn to death,” the damned mage growled.

  I looked at the creature and began walking down the slope. I needed to put some distance between me and Whily to unleash my magic.

  “Baz told us about you, death caster. The new Truechild. The emperor’s new dog,” the damned continued.

  I reached down to my waist and unclasped the belt I was wearing. The mana sword Ilya had given me fell to the ground. It wasn’t sharp or powerful enough to cut through the damned's scales.

  “Giving up so soon? Or do you think we will show you mercy? After what you have done, you will die screaming.” The damned snarled and continued, “You killed a matriarch. You killed one of my mages. I will make you beg. I will break you before I rip out your soul and consume it.”

  I looked at the damned all around me. They parted, creating a circle to hem me in. They stopped just far enough to dodge my waves of magic.

  The damned leader laughed. “Oh, did you think Baz didn’t tell us the range of your magic?” He leaned down to look at me. “What, still no words?”

  I looked up at him. “You know why you damned always lose? You talk too much.”

  The damned hissed all around me. Their upper lips lifted, revealing their sharp teeth. The damned mage laughed. There was no humor in the sound, just barely held contempt. With gritted teeth, he began, “I think it's time to teach you who the real masters of this world are, dog. Let’s see what you say after I put a few holes into you.”

  The damned mage pointed his finger at me. The gesture was the same one I made when I shot my death bolt. A yellow flash shot towards me. It grazed my shoulder and sizzled through my skin and muscles in half a breath.

  I gave the damned mage an indifferent look and continued walking towards him.

  “I see. You think you are tough. I will enjoy breaking you.” The damned mage's reptilian lips stretched into a grin. He raised a finger again. A yellow flash. This one grazed my thigh. Rustle’s flaps tried to protect me. They sizzled and popped. Then the smell of burning flesh assaulted my nose. The visceral feeling of smelling your own burned flesh made me stumble, but I kept my footing. I stabilized myself. And looked at Stone’s prone form. Three damned stood between me and her.

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  I took in a breath and stepped over loose rocks. And continued walking.

  The damned mage growled, “Oh, you are a tough one, aren’t you.”

  I cracked my neck. “No, you are just weak.”

  The mage snarled and glared down at me. “Fine, you want to feel the full force of my fire bolt? Then so be it.”

  The mage lifted his clawed finger. A yellow flash lit up my eyes. Dark Hunter’s Edge appeared in my hand. The yellow bolt reached me in half a breath. I parried it. Right into the face of a grinning damned watching the torture.

  The damned stilled. They stood there in shock. I used that moment to rush mana and essence into my limbs. The damned that had been hit in the face hit the ground with a thud. The damned looked at their fallen comrade and then at me.

  A hushed whisper reached my ear. “A named weapon.”

  Before the damned could react, I charged. The three damned blocking my path were stunned. They didn’t expect me to rush them. Before they could prepare, Hunter's Edge came down on the first one’s head. I twisted the sword. Scrambling the damned’s brain. My hands moved like the thousands of times before. I sidestepped and pulled my weapon. Driving the scythe of my blade into the eyes of the damned behind me. And then moved the now wet sword into the throat of the final damned looming over Stone.

  “What? How?” the damned mage asked. There was a hint of panic in his voice. For some odd reason, it sent a wave of satisfaction through my heart. But it was overshadowed by the bubbling anger that clouded my vision in red. I dug my foot in the ground and shot up the slope.

  “No, kill him. Now!” the damned mage screeched.

  The damned behind me gathered themselves and began to rush me. They were too slow. The mage, on the other hand, was better prepared. It opened its mouth, and I saw fire in its gullet. It exhaled.

  Flames erupted out of its draconic mouth. I spun Hunter's Edge like a fan and released a wave of cold. Flames met cold and fizzled. The damned breathed harder. Fire broke through the cold and licked my skin. They burnt my fingers and hand. They were nothing compared to the anger burning in my chest.

  I snarled and kept moving forward. Step by step, I closed the gap between us. The damned tried to create distance between us by stepping back. I pushed through the fire and released a wave of death. Death was the final state of everything. Life, pain, anger, everything died. The fire hit the dark wave of death and was wiped out of existence.

  The damned scrambled back. It raised its clawed hand to shoot a bolt of fire. I spun. The scythe half of Hunter's Edge sped out. Slashing through the mage's raised claw. With a swish, the limb fell down to the ground.

  I continued my spin and a deep growl erupted out of my throat. The sword half of Hunter's Edge flashed out, jabbing into the other limb, leaving behind dark, decaying flesh and scales. I didn’t stop. Both ends of my weapon cut, slashed, and hacked. Leaving behind bleeding, decaying flesh.

  I heard shuffling behind me. I caught the reflection of damned approaching in the mage’s eye. I raised my finger and turned. A bolt of death shot into the mouth of the first damned. I spread my fingers upwards; a flurry of snow encompassed the two next to the first one.

  I turned back to the mage. It whimpered and backed away. I raised my Hunter’s Edge to finish it off. I had to stop; the final two damned reached me. One lunged to bite me, the other shot a wave of embers at me.

  I shot a wave of cold out to extinguish the embers. I slashed out. My sword parted the scales of the lunging damned and decapitated it. The second one shrieked and jumped back. It turned, almost taking my head off with its tail. To my surprise, it slid down the slope and began to run away.

  I raised my finger and shot a death bolt at the retreating drake. The bolt hit it on its hind leg. The damned fell and started stumbling away on three limbs. I let it live, for now.

  I turned back to look at the damned behind me. The one covered in ice and snow was slowly coming to. The damned mage, on the other hand, was beaten and bloody. I took a few steps away from the mage and swung my weapon twice. Bisecting the head of the first one and piercing the heart of the second one.

  I turned back to the mage. I expected to see a deformed drake. But the damned had shifted back to his human form. He was short and thin, with narrow eyes, an old wrinkled face, and a wispy beard on his chin.

  The old man threw his hands up. One was missing and spurted blood everywhere. The other was splayed out to stop me. The old man pleaded, “Stop. Stop. Please.”

  I took a step, looking down at the man. He had half a dozen cuts that bled and covered the man in his own blood. Discolored, decaying flesh spread on his naked flesh in splotches.

  “You don’t know who I am. I am master mage Liuong.” I took a step and the man screamed, “I am rich. I own all the gambling establishments in the cradle city. You are Voss. You need money. I can give you money.”

  The old man’s hand went to his ankle where an anklet dangled from his foot. He shouted, “Take it. Take it all. Just let me live.”

  I looked at the old man. “I just want one thing from you.”

  “What? Tell me. I will give you anything.”

  “Show me,” I ordered.

  The old man’s voice quivered. “Sh… Sh… Show you. Show you what?”

  “You said you are the masters of this world. Show me what a master can do?”

  “No… No… No… Please. Mercy!” Liuong begged.

  I raised my Hunter's Edge and looked the man in his eyes. I spun my blade, scythe head facing downwards. Recognition dawned on the damned’s face. He whispered, “Reaper?”

  “Yes. And you know we don’t show mercy.”

  I slashed the blade in a wide arc. Taking his head off his shoulders.

  I turned to look at the final two damned. The first one was stumbling away on the trail. And the second one had just come to. She was covered in ice, and half of her face didn’t move. I had shot her in the face, after all. Her wide, frightened eyes looked at my every movement. She caught me looking at her and twitched.

  “Move and I will kill you. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded.

  “Good. Now go down and sit with the corpses of your kind.”

  The woman gulped and ran down to follow my order. I raised my finger at the final damned. He was faster than I expected. No, I couldn’t have that. I shot a bolt. It arched through the air and came down like a volleyed arrow. Hitting the damned.

  The damned screamed but continued running. Now with a limp tail digging into the trail. I nodded in satisfaction. Now I could follow its trail and hunt its kind until all the snow in this valley was painted red with their blood.