Noah’s eyes snapped open back in the Scorched Acres as he drew in a sharp breath. An imprint of Unstable Pandemonium had burned itself into his irises, dim lines glowing faintly in the air before him even outside of his mindspace.

    He sat on the ground, amidst a small clearing, surrounded by the entirety of his group. Moxie and the others had all returned in the time he’d spent working on his runes and it seemed that they were splitting their attention between introductions and watching him.

    Jitters gripped Noah’s body as he felt his domain twist and fluctuate. There was so much more power in it than he was used to. Keeping the magic contained was like trying to hold a squirming fish in a single hand.

    Energy filled him to the brim. It permeated through his veins and filled his lungs with every breath he took. Every single one of his Body Imbuements had crumbled with the combination of his Runes into Unstable Pandemonium. His tremorsense was gone until he figured out how to remake it — but, strangely enough, he felt like he could feel more now than he had been able to before.

    The entire world felt more vibrant. More... there. He didn’t know how else to describe it. Every single color was simply more than what it had before. Ash bore new notes in its scent, traces of its history that his nose simply hadn’t been able to pick up before.

    Jalen studied Noah with an intensity that was uncommon to the old mage. He’d picked up on the immense shift to Noah’s domain. His brow went from furrowed to twitching upward; his lips parted in shock.

    “What Runes did you just combine?” Jalen asked, staring at Noah in surprise. “Half the Runes you got from the Auction weren’t even your Rank! How did you do that?”

    “A man has to have a few secrets, Jalen. It’s how I stay interesting.”

    Noah shifted to rise to his feet, only to find himself already standing. His stomach lurched in surprise at his own speed. He staggered, which took him a blurring step to the side and nearly headlong into a tree. Noah managed to right himself an instant before he smashed into it. Every single motion he made was like he was flooring the gas pedal on a racecar.

    Holy shit. I’m going to have to get used to this. The connection that the Fragment of Self makes between my body and soul got even stronger when I hit Rank 5. I almost feel as fast as—

    “Gods,” Moxie said, her eyes going wide. “What was that speed?”

    “You’re almost as fast as I am!” Lee exclaimed. She squinted at Noah. “Did you eat something really good? You smell... spicy.”

    I’m not even sure how to take that.

    Noah looked down at his hands. It took considerable effort to keep himself from accidentally smacking himself in the face as he raised them. It wasn’t just that he’d gotten the ability to be faster. He simply was faster.

    I’m not moving at the speed of thought, but I don’t think I’m too far from it either. This is ridiculous. I knew getting a Rune of Self imbued into my soul was a huge benefit, but I didn’t expect it to scale this hard either.

    Makes me wonder what’ll happen as Lee and other ‘fixed’ demons reach higher ranks as well. They’re even more physically inclined than I am. Am I even going to be able to keep track of how fast they can move?

    “What manner of ability is that?” Silvertide asked, leaning heavily on his cane. His gaze bore into Noah, a mixture of awe and desire within it. He clearly wanted to say more, but he restrained himself after a glance at Linestra, clearly not wanting to give too much away to the demoness by accident.

    “One that can be taught,” Noah replied. He hesitated for a moment. “Probably. It’s not very easy. You’re welcome to sit in on my classes. I’ll be covering it after we all review our Formations.”

    “Classes?” Linestra repeated. She squinted at Noah in confusion. “I... thought your role as a teacher was a cover for your plans?”

    Is that the explanation that Moxie gave her?

    Noah caught Moxie’s eye, and she gave him a slight nod.

    “A cover is worthless if it’s only half-assed,” Noah said with a shrug. “And I take the training of those who follow me very seriously. Have you already met my protegees?”

    “We have been briefly introduced,” Linestra allowed. She sent an uneasy look toward the students, who had all gathered in a small circle. “I cannot get a proper read on your people’s strength. I am unused to being this... unsteady with mortals. They are mortals, are they not?”

    “I’ve always found it amusing to hear some demons call humans mortals.” Noah scratched his chin. “It implies that you aren’t mortal. That definitely isn’t true. I’ve killed enough demons to know that they die just as well as humans do. But yes, they are human. Most of them are, at least.”

    Linestra swallowed and nodded. She didn’t say anything else.

    Noah caught Brayden staring at him. The large man wasn’t doing much to hide it. He chewed the insides of his cheeks, his inquisitive gaze boring into Noah’s head like a drill.

    “Every time I lose track of you, you get stronger,” Brayden muttered. “Your domain is stronger than mine. I can feel it. And to think I felt like I was making good progress recently.”

    “Whoops. Is it still leaking?” Noah focused his thoughts and pulled his domain back to keep it from suppressing everyone else’s magic. “Sorry about that. And I’m sure you’ve been making great progress. I’ve just been in a... unique set of circumstances. It’s given me a lot to think about. I’m certain the next few lessons will be quite enlightening.”

    “Does this mean it’s time to go back to Arbitage?” Isabel asked. “We’ve been hiding in the forest so long that I’m worried we’ll be marked as missing. We haven’t had anyone come looking for us yet, but who knows how long that’ll last.”

    “Oop!” Lee said, her eyes darting to the side. “My axe! It’s coming!”

    Linestra frowned. “What do you mean? How can an axe—”

    A black streak leapt from the trees. Linestra’s eyes went wide and she threw herself to the ground a moment before the massive black axe that Lee had liberated from Axil hurtled through the air, its head making loud, heavy whumps as it spun toward her.

    Lee grabbed the hilt of the weapon with a single hand, spinning in a full circle to spend its momentum and keep it from ripping her arms off. Then she held the weapon aloft before herself. “It came back!”

    “It thought you said it would come back slowly, not flying at our heads like a psychopath!” Todd exclaimed. “What was that?”

    “That was slow,” Lee said as she let the axe lower. Her eyes flicked to the side. “Oh. Monkey.”

    Noah didn’t have his tremorsense active anymore. His Domain was contained as well, so he ended up seeing the monster before he felt it.

    A Slasher stood at the edge of the path the axe had just made through the trees, staring at them with its beady black eyes. Saliva dripped from the large teeth that jutted from its mouth and its massive claws hung from gangly arms at its sides.

    It had been a long time since Noah had seen a Slasher. Somehow, they were more intimidating in his memory. This one just looked like a sad, angry monkey.

    “There’s a memory,” Noah said, his lips thinning. He still hadn’t forgotten the number of times the monsters had ripped him to shreds. That one was probably going to linger for quite some time. “Allow me.”

    The Slasher’s lips peeled back in a snarl. Noah still remembered its attack patterns like he’d seen them yesterday. He didn’t know if the Slasher would even still use them since the Hellreaver was dead — but he didn’t care to find out.

    Noah met the monster’s eyes.

    He lifted a hand and drew on Unstable Pandemonium.

    A screaming ocean of energy responded. The power was familiar, but at the same time, it wasn’t. It held the combined strength of every rune that had gone into the Rank 5... but there was something new within it.

    Something different.

    Screaming a roar of challenge, the Slasher charged.

    Noah released the magic.

    A sleek bolt of sanguine lightning ripped from his palm. It screamed through the air, zigzagging at odd, abrupt angles, and slammed into the Slasher’s chest.

    In a split instant, the towering monkey folded in on itself. Loud crunches split through the air as it collapsed like a black hole had spawned in its chest, drawn in on itself.

    The once-intimidating Slasher transformed into a spiral of cracking bone and splattering viscera.

    And then it was over. The monster’s mangled body collapsed to the ground, dead long before it ever fell. Sickly blood and pulverized guts dripped from the trees around it and soaked into the burnt ground around the messy pile of its flesh.

    Holy fuck. That was not what I was expecting. What the hell is this rune? I’m going to have to do some testing. Some very, very extensive testing.

    “Oh, that is gruesome,” Jalen said. For the briefest second, there was genuine unease in his features. Then it vanished. “What rune was that? I want it.”

    Noah let his hand lower. He didn’t let any of his thoughts show on his features. He looked at the bloodied corpse of a Slasher for a long second.

    “Silvertide,” Noah said. “When’s the next Advanced Track meeting?”

    “Tonight,” Silvertide replied, not pulling his eyes away from the dead monster. His skin had gone a shade paler.

    Noah nodded slightly, then turned to Jalen.

    “Open a portal back to Arbitage, please. I believe it is time for Vermil to return from the Damned Plains.”