Janice sat as still as ice as arguments ripped through the room around her. The shadow of the pillar behind her covered much of her body, preventing anyone from getting a good look at her features.

    That was no mistake. She always chose the position that would be the most advantageous to her goals. Father had ingrained that habit into her. Emotions were a weapon when one was on the offense. But if she was on defense... then they were nothing but a weakness.

    His words had proven true. Because, if anyone had the presence of mind and fortune to catch a glimpse of her features, they would have seen shock flash over them. Her expression was not one of surprised disbelief.

    It was one of recognition.

    Spider. How does he know? We don’t have information leaks. The number of people who know about the artifact... there are almost none. It’s not inconceivable that another ancient power would have hidden within the Arbalest Empire in pursuit of it. Father expected that might be a possibility. But why would Spider be associated with them? How would he have ever found out?

    Janice swallowed. She wasn’t even meant to be here. Father had assigned her to watching over Arbitage. Her duty was to avoid being observed and silently gather information. That normally would have meant avoiding any gatherings of the strongest mages in the Bastion — but the empire’s hourglass was running out of sand.

    Father was getting the artifact now. And once he did... she had no idea if she’d ever get a chance to speak with Brayden again. She’d observed him attending the Advanced Track meetings with Vermil’s students.

    There hadn’t been a chance for her to speak with him privately. And, even if there had been, Janice wasn’t sure what she would have told him. What she could have told him. She would do nothing to endanger what she had worked for. Father’s plans would go forward.

    They were the only fix for this broken, chaos-ridden world.

    And so she had said nothing. She’d attended the meetings in private, watching from afar. It had been some time since she’d last gotten a chance to even speak with Brayden, but a dozen conversations had happened within the confines of her own head. None of them would ever see the light of day.

    She’d told Father that she was paying special attention to the mildly competent mages in Arbitage to ensure that none of them would inadvertently get in their way. He’d been accepting of that explanation — though Janice just suspected he truly didn’t care what she did when he didn’t have a specific task for her.

    Not a single part of Janice had expected to be sitting in the room when none other than Spider exposed their plans as if he’d always known them. The demon had a unique ability to be endlessly infuriating... but this was something else entirely.

    If he knows this much...

    Janice sent her senses diving inward.

    Father! We have an issue. A very serious issue.

    There was a heartbeat of silence. Then her skin prickled. An icy presence wrapped around Janice’s shoulders like a cloak, and she knew that Father had turned his gaze onto her.

    Speak.

    Spider is here. At the Advanced Track meeting. He’s returned from the Damned Plains — and he knows about the artifact. He’s just told the entire meeting about it.

    There was a moment of silence. Janice’s throat clenched as she felt the weight of Father’s attention magnify. His presence was ancient and oppressive, like an endless sky devoid of stars.

    Tell me exactly what has happened.

    Spider arrived at the meeting using what I suspect to be one of his extra bodies as cover for his Vermil persona. He had word spread that an immensely powerful demon would be making an appearance at the meeting, so the entire track gathered to see if it was true. He then revealed the presence of an organization spread throughout every noble house in pursuit of an immensely powerful artifact.

    He found out? Improbable. Spider is not that old. He is not an Archdemon.

    Is... it possible that he managed to trick us? That he hid his true strength when we observed him?

    There was a moment of silence.

    Unlikely, but it is possible. This is unlikely to change our plans. Spider is too late. I have already arrived at the artifact. I will have it in my possession shortly. Continue to observe the meeting. Be wary of Spider. You still hold purpose. R?α?о?E?S??

    Janice swallowed.

    Understood.

    ***

    Blood pooled on the cold stone around Jalen, soaking into his clothes and spreading at a decidedly alarming rate. His body begged for air, but he didn’t have enough of his lungs left to even try to fill.

    Darkness coiled at the edges of Jalen’s vision and worked to pull his eyelids shut. Ice wrapped around his limbs and wound up his chest as it reached for his head. Even the pain from the wound Father had inflicted on him with nothing more than a flicker of his power had faded.

    Jalen grabbed onto the magic.

    All I want are a few more moments.

    With a roar and every remaining scrap of will and power within his failing body, he did what he had intentionally refused to do for hundreds of years.

    He drove all his runes together into one.

    The world shattered.

    Jalen’s eyes snapped open.

    His Domain roared. Power burned around his body like a churning storm. It flooded through his veins and pumped in his skull like the beat of a thousand men marching to war. His body was stronger than it had ever been... but there was simply too much missing. Advancing in ranks could not fix the damage he had sustained.

    Death waited, a hand on his shoulder. Jalen could feel it now.

    This very second was his last.

    And so Jalen took that second.

    He took it — and he froze it.

    Father paused, his hand on the wooden staff. He turned back to Jalen. And for a flicker of a moment, surprise passed through his eyes.

    “You still live?”

    Jalen’s lips pulled back in a bloody snarl — but he used every ounce of willpower he had to contain the power pouring from his body. He wrapped it in his domain and prevented even a flicker of it from leaking free.

    “Didn’t anyone ever tell you to finish off your opponents?”

    The power screaming in his body did nothing to offset the weakness waiting to swallow him whole and drag him to the next life. The moment his concentration waned, it was over.

    “You were never an opponent,” Father replied. “Merely an insect.”

    “You know what?” Jalen asked. The corner of his lip twitched in amusement. “This might end up being funnier than the anvil.”

    Father’s head tilted to the side. “What?”

    Jalen released his Domain.

    There was a flicker of an instant where nothing happened. Then Father’s eyes went wide.

    The air before Jalen vibrated. A shadow passed through the room. The pressure in the room changed with a pop. Jalen staggered into the wall behind him.

    And then they were no longer alone.

    A woman clad in black stood between Father and Jalen. She wore a spiked collar around her neck and her teeth were pointed like razor-sharp blades. Power radiated her as if she were a miniature sun.

    Would you look at that? Vermil wasn’t full of shit after all.

    “Oops,” Jalen said, his lips splitting into a sardonic grin. “Did I just reach Rank 7?”

    The woman’s gaze flicked from Jalen to Father — and then to the artifact on the wall. Then her eyes went thin in fury. “What do you think you’re doing?”

    Jalen slumped back against the wall, his legs no longer able to support him. He slid to the ground. His second was wearing thin, but he planned to milk it for every last drop he could.

    There’s no way I’m dying before I get to see Father’s shit get kicked in.