Edwin Davis. The man who’d blackmailed and left Ethan to die in an abandoned garage near the docks of Charlestown, baring his teeth and yelling at his subordinates as they all watched Ethan barrel through the brush toward them.

  Ethan barely felt the projectiles. His flames roared brighter as he ate through the distance separating him from the man, and the cold, still confident gaze was like gasoline doused over his flames.

  There were no bullets this time. No goons to intimidate and outnumber Ethan. No inadequate laws or corrupt systems to abuse and exploit. Only wands, stats, and levels. Spells and forms.

  Ethan leaped at Edwin, his clawed hand pulled back, and at the last second, a smile stretched on his target’s lips, a moment before the trap was sprung.

  When he was only ten feet away, the area around Ethan lit up, crisscrossed with gray straight lines.

  Edwin jumped back, creating more distance between him and Ethan right as the first line touched the [Sapping Scales]. Ethan expected to be cut or electrocuted but instead, his momentum continued carrying him forward, and the line stretched along with him for a second before it snapped. But while that one dissipated into nothing, dozens, hundreds more shone and stuck to Ethan. Most were torn from the momentum he’d built up, but they did manage to bring his charge to a halt and now, the lines all hung limply across his shoulder and chest.

  “How about we calm down and talk about this like adults?”

  Ethan took a step forward and felt a drag. He wrenched his right hand away from a clump of threads that were still unbroken, and watched as the material stretched for a second before it began snapping.

  His expression pulled away in disgust. “You want to talk, huh?”

  Ethan dismissed the scales covering his face. He was going to burn this spider’s plan to the ground, but he would really like to drive in the fact that it was him who’d done it.

  Edwin stared perplexed for a second, then recognition lit up in his eyes as a toothy, animated grin stretched across his thin lips.

  “Ethan Fischer. Been a while,” the man said as his eyes flicked between his followers. Ethan noted his fingers were sharp, ending in thin claws that glistened white. The same white of the threads that had slowed the juggernaut’s charge.

  A smile pulled in his lips as he looked at the remaining threads still hanging in the air. He supposed that trap was supposed to completely stop him. To ensnare him so he was completely at the caster’s mercy and it might have worked for a moment if Ethan’s charge had been any slower, but that wasn’t all he could do.

  Still meeting the leader’s eyes, Ethan flexed his will and with a nice helping of mana, he bolstered the flames licking up his hand so they turned into a bonfire that he next wrapped around his full body, burning the trash sticking to his form.

  The fire retreated to reveal a spotless set of scales, and Ethan returned Edwin’s smile, and forced down the impulse he had to rush forward, then took a quick look around as the lackeys surrounded him.

  [Human (I) - Level 50]

  The one who shot the jagged purple spells. A man in his late-twenties, head buzzed. He seemed relaxed, and his eyes were set on Ethan. He wore a once black t-shirt that was barely holding on to his large frame, had charcoal cargo pants and thick military boots. He had a wooden wand tipped in a glowing purple crystal, and a purple, fleshy tail swished behind him.

  [Human (I) - Level 48]

  The second was a middle-aged man wearing the remains of a suit. His eyes were flicking between Ethan and Edwin, and Ethan couldn’t read his expression. It almost looked like impatience. In one hand, he had a short, metallic wand and on the other’s forearm, a simple, small buckler shield. This was the one that cast the sharp metallic projectiles.

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  [Human (I) - Level 51]

  The third was a woman draped in shadows. Literally. Just like Ethan’s scales covered him from his sole to his neck, shadows clung to her thin form and to her hair. It was hard to see where her body began and where the darkness ended, and it was as if the black shadows were pulling the dim light of the clearing to them.

  Two black daggers were in her hands, dripping with what looked like manifested darkness. She was leaning against a mushroom tree, barely visible in the blue light of the mushroom tree, and a small smile played on her lips as she tapped the right dagger’s flat against the side of her thigh.

  Focusing on the thread he could feel from his pact, Ethan spoke in his mind.“[Ember. Can you hear me?]”

  “[Yes.]”

  Ethan felt some relief at hearing the cat. “[The woman in the shadows. Keep her off of me while I deal with the rest. Watch for the webs, and leave him for last.]”

  “[Got it.]”

  Ethan turned his attention back to Edwin, and let the scales cover his face once more until only his eyes were still visible.

  [Human (I) - Level 56]

  “We really don’t need to resort to violence. We could let bygones be bygones and create something new. Nothing like what had happened before. Look at this team. Wouldn’t it be better if we teamed up?”

  Edwin spoke as he smoothed out the miraculously clean flannel shirt he was wearing. He rolled up his sleeves, slowly and methodically, and when he was done, the black and white tips materialized once more on his hand, and a glass, delicate rod dropped in his outstretched hand. As soon as it touched his skin, the glass turned milky-white.

  The leader of this little gang. Edwin Davis, with his white-tipped claws, and a smarmy smile on his lips. The teenager who’d blackmailed, coerced, framed, and assaulted his way to the top of a local gang-scene before he disappeared and was never found again. The man who had exploited vulnerable kids to do his dirty deeds. The man who never had to pay for any of his crimes, and who, from looking at his face, did not seem to feel any regret or remorse for what he’d done.

  For years, Ethan has had to look behind him wherever he went. He couldn’t approach a crowd without having the thought that the sociopath in front of him would one day show up to finish the job, especially considering those series of events had been the catalyst that brought the gang’s leadership to light.

  Ethan tilted his head and made sure the horns and wands were ready as he looked around at Edwin’s allies. Edwin would not walk away from this encounter. No way in hell he would live through the day. But the rest, were they blameless?

  Seeing their expressions, they didn’t seem to mind what was happening. They didn’t mind using other people as fodder to the monster they could all still hear in the distance.

  Ethan exhaled, but the rage in his chest kept burning. No, they were not as bad as Edwin, maybe, but they were as rotten as that archer had been. They didn’t mind stepping over the bodies of others. So he was going for the kill. But before that, he wanted to know. He had to ask.

  “You managed to scurry away, five years ago. Which hole did you end up hiding in?”

  Something cold flicked in the man’s eyes, but the revoltingly genuine smile appeared again. “Giving back to the community, believe it or not. I had to stay hidden, but I turned a new page.”

  Behind him, the goons tensed, and Ethan readied himself to burst into flames and start flinging fireballs as he gave Edwin an appreciative nod, just as fake as he was. “Really? A new page? Is that why you’re using people as fodder?”

  The corner of Edwin’s lips curved higher, but that in itself was enough of a response and interestingly, it was a signal as well.

  The shadows under Ethan’s feet rippled and a black dagger stabbed upward right as Ethan jumped and summoned his wings. A jagged bolt of purple lightning crackled through the air in an instant, slamming against Ethan’s wing right as he pointed at the man in suit and sent out [Small Fireball] before turning his attention back to Edwin right as his scaled soles hit the ground again.

  To the side, he heard a cry of surprise from the shadow-woman right before the area lit up with fire, signaling Ember was on the job.

  “At least you came prepared this time,” Edwin said as he pointed milky-white wand. A spray of white shot out, and Ethan barely had time to counter with a wide jet of fire out of his outstretched hand. Still, a few threads managed to get through and made contact.

  They felt cold and slimy, and instantly, he felt his mana be drawn into them. With a flex, Ethan burned the threads and feinted a lunge forward but instead, he surged toward the man in black cargo pants right as a new bolt of purple flew at him.

  Get rid of the goons, then Edwin.

  Ethan ate the bolt right in his chest and grit his teeth, as the crackling electricity danced across his scales, but it wasn’t enough to stop him.

  The man’s eyes widened as Ethan continued, barely slowed by the attack, and the Harvester’s dagger flashed at the man’s stomach. After all, he did want something with electricity. He just hoped the dagger would deliver.

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