CHAPTER 576: SURPRISE

Michael watched with pleasure as a demon jumped on a trio of young women, and ripped out one of their throats.

Despite his attack going horribly wrong, it made him stop long enough to smile. But that fucking little girl was still after him. He had no idea how she was following him through so many shadows. But it had something to do with that presence he’d felt in her mind before she blocked him out.

And she was fast. It was pissing him off. Prickling his skin. Making him reckless.

He heard the annoying sound of her feet slapping stone as she ran down the hall towards the king’s hall. But if the little bitch thought she’d wear him down, she was wrong.

He snuffed out the nearest torch, then turned and Shadow Walked again, the mana cost still absorbed entirely by his divine gift. He could use his powers all night if he had to, he’d just have to pay the cost later. Or someone would.

This time he went further—doubling back towards the main section of rooms. With most of his demons leading the players on a merry chase, he expected several targets to be alone. Feeling safe again. Maybe that other lover of Mason’s.

He ran through the darkness of solid stone, his form twisted and insubstantial as he truly stepped through another plane of existence. With his near eidetic memory, he had a perfect sense of the mountain layout, able to move back to almost anywhere he’d seen at least once.

And with so much distance crossed, he had time before that stupid fucking girl arrived.

He came out in a room full of women. His first victim lay still on the floor in a pool of blood, the others all watching the door or trying uselessly to help him. He was a dead man—Michael had pierced his heart. His hands twitched with anticipation at doing it again. And again.

How nice of them to all gather up.

He targeted the only remaining player—a defensive little slut with a shield. He activated his psionic-based Dark World. She was physically strong, maybe, but her mind was vulnerable. She could fight back and hold him off, but she couldn’t do a damn thing to truly stop him.

He entered her mind easily, but still activated his Empower gem for a burst of extra force. Better to be sure with this one. Better to be quick.

The girl put a hand to her head and screamed as the shadows closed. Michael smiled and twisted the light of the room, snuffing them out to pool more magic darkness at the girl’s feet.

“Becky! What’s happening?” cried out some other dark-haired whore.

“Stay back! It’s dangerous. There’s somethin’….it’s…I think it’s close.”

It certainly is, Michael thought, following the moving shadows. A list of the girl’s fears formed before his eyes, waiting to create her own private hell. Fear of being a young, single mother. Fear of getting old and fat. A fear of peeing herself while laughing…?

Michael rolled his eyes until he found something he could use: the fear of losing everyone she loved.

You can’t protect them, he whispered in her mind, watching the vision of a farm burning, animals screaming. Most of them are already dead. The rest will join them soon.

The pathetic girl fell to her knees. Weeping. Her mind was crumbling fast, and Michael summoned his Shadow Blade as he advanced.

“There! There’s something there, I can see it!”

One of the useless civilian girls was pointing in his direction. But she made no difference. He came forward slow and careful, wrapping his magic around his target’s mind, trying to bring down her defensive powers. He didn’t need long. Just a single moment of…

“Surprise.”

Michael blinked and spun. Something grabbed his wrist. He pulled hard and sliced without caring what it was. His attacker was tall. Huge. Fast. It caught his other wrist before the blade touched flesh.

Michael stared up into the eyes of Mason Nimitz. His mind blanked, and wouldn’t catch up. It wasn’t possible. He’d been over a day’s travel away. Locked in combat. Even with a planar travel power, or a teleportation device, there were rules. It wasn’t possible. So…

“How…”

Mason’s eyes were wild. Filled with a rage and a hate Michael knew so well. The terrible, vice-like hands on his wrists twisted. He tried to Shadow Walk but he couldn’t get away while held physically. His items? Did his items help? He couldn’t think. All his mana, all his powers, all his stealth and tools useless in that awful, awful grip…

He screamed as they crushed. As he heard his own bones snap…

**

Mason’s rational brain told him to keep the bastard alive. He might have information—not just now about the attack, but later about the emperor. It also told him he might yet be useful against the forces trying to destroy the world. Maybe he could be turned.

But his irrational brain told it to shut the fuck up. There was a man who tried to hurt his women. And so there was only a bloody, screaming murder to finish.

In a few moments work, he produced many broken bones and lots of screaming. Then the assassin’s body was coming apart. Mason smashed, and clawed, and ripped. He only stopped when what was left of the man no longer moved or made sound. But he had to fight the urge to keep smashing.

“Did he hurt you?” he said, panting with violent need as he looked up. “Are you alright?”

His girls didn’t exactly come running. There were a lot of pale faces and wide eyes. Haley looked like she was trying not to throw up. But Becky staggered towards him, and he caught her and pulled her into a hug.

“We’re OK,” she said, shaking her head. “He was in my brain. I couldn’t…” she blinked and grit her teeth, some water in her eyes. “I think Jason’s dead. There’s demons. We gotta go help.”

Mason sat her on the bed, then quickly scanned Jason with his Hunter’s Mark. Becky was right. His heart wasn’t beating. Rosa and Lexi came to their senses and moved closer on the bed, giving him brave smiles as they put their hands on Becky.

“Naya? Ayet?” he said. “Who else are we missing?”

Someone knocked at the door, and he crossed and opened it in a blink, Claw at the ready.

Lodie the goblin princess pulled back with surprise, then grinned. She was on her scooter, and had a dozen girls behind her.

“Lord Mason!” She looked ready to jump into his arms but held back. Then she gestured at the others. “In you go, humans. Very safe now. Mighty lord Mason is here.”

He stepped back and waved them all in, looking for his other girls. He blinked in total confusion when he saw Lila—the Australian ‘diplomat’ he’d found in a centaur camp. How the hell had she gotten here?

She gave him an eyebrow wiggle as she came in, but sobered when she saw the corpses.

“Jesus,” she said, looking at the assassin. “Did a demon get at that one?”

“We’re not staying here, it’s not safe,” Mason said, scanning everyone with his Mark just to make sure. No one was hurt. “We’re going to the main hall, and taking everyone we find. Let’s go.”

The girls all followed him into the hall without a word. Becky still looked like she’d seen a ghost, and the civilians were all terrified. He grabbed Lodie and took her aside.

“Tell me what’s happening. Be brief.”

“Demons, looks like.” She shrugged. “Except there was maybe a human? Do humans work with demons?”

“Maybe. One’s dead,” Mason said, fighting the urge to go kick the corpse. “But there might be others. If so, they’re extremely dangerous, Lodie. These are elite human champions like us.”

“I can zoom ahead and tell my uncle. Maybe he can…”

“No.” He put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. He didn’t want her out there alone. “Stay with us. If there’s a demon, be ready to shoot it. Or something. But no bombs. Can you manage that? Accurate weapons only.”

She nodded enthusiastically, and he squeezed her shoulder. Then he waved at the girls and put away the soft thing that wanted to comfort them. There’d be time for that. But it wasn’t now. He had to get them all protected.

Where the fuck were all his players?

He marched a dozen young woman down the hall, gathering more in the nearby corridors. He found an obviously drunken Garet and Tommaso guarding a dozen others. He fought the urge to scream at them, gathering them into the pack with the rest.

Then he led them all down towards the king’s hall, in a very tense, very long few minutes of crossings and stepping over dead goblins. And a few dead people.

The girls all covered their mouths as Mason gently turned over bodies. One of the Sanctuary girls had died from blood loss, frantic claw marks all over her back. Another girl Mason didn’t recognize looked almost serene, unharmed, but maybe died from poison.

“That’s Christina. We were supposed to be safe,” said one of the girls in the back. Mason took a breath and lifted both bodies, carrying them along.

These demons had been fast, and coordinated. Jeong’s assassin had somehow found them, somehow gotten in, somehow navigated the maze-like goblin halls and avoided detection. The obvious answer was a spy. Someone who’d told the emperor they were here.

Seul-ki.

The girl was already in deep shit in his mind for what she’d done to Haley. But now…

She’d known about the raid. She hadn’t been to the mountain, but if she’d told Jeong about it he might have sent his people instantly to scout it out. Which meant even if they stopped this attack, they were all in serious danger.

Despite being a tyrannical bastard, it was still hard to believe the man was working with demons. Was he a complete idiot? Surely he realized the creatures were trying to destroy the world. That you couldn’t rule over a fucking wasteland.

Plenty of noise and commotion came from the goblin hall. Mason heard it well enough to know it wasn’t demons or combat. It was people and goblins piling in, arming themselves, reacting to the danger. He took a deep, calming breath, and ushered the girls in like a sheep dog.

There were all kinds of tears and hugs and people shouting to each other. His girls all stopped and waited to go inside, Haley the first to ram herself into his chest. He breathed her in and held her as she cried, turning human again now that his girls seemed safe.

“It’s alright now,” he said, pulling in Rosa and Lexi, then Becky and even Lila—though the Australian looked like this was all more like an exciting adventure.

Haley tried to apologize, to explain, but he cut her off and shook his head.

“It’s no one’s fault, except maybe mine. We’re going to figure out what’s happening. What matters is keeping you all together and safe. Go down to the others, alright? I’ll talk to all the players. And the goblin king. Then we’ll lock this place down.”

He didn’t add ‘and then I need to leave and fight the other demon battle I just left’. It didn’t seem like the right moment. He gave his girls all final hugs, then walked in looking for his players. It looked like they’d all arrived.

When they saw his face, they didn’t look quite as relieved to see him as the civilians.

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