The light shifted angle, the source moving down lower behind Seth. It then cast another shadow on the wall. He recognized the outline. Nicole. The sound of another pair of shoes began to come from back up the tunnel. Seth managed to heave some air out of his lungs.

“Ugh!”

“Shut up,” growled Nicole. Force impacted his lower back, arching him forward and shooting pain up his spine. “I’m not letting this time be as messy as Missouri.”

Nothing but confusion filled Seth’s head. Had Nicole just kicked him? What was going on? Seth struggled internally, but the only thing he managed was to twitch his augment a little. He heard Nicole’s voice again. “Huh. Wondered if that would happen. Oh, well.”

He felt a cold hand on his neck again and then lost all ability to even move his augment. The third pair of shoes got closer, they had to be in the room now.

“Hunter is in town,” said Sophia.

“You fucking kidding me.”

“Not a chance. They came from Malmstrom.”

“We don’t have much time then. Help me.”

“Of course. I glammered the entrance and our cars. Hopefully, they don’t see through it. If they do, we’re fighting our way out of here.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. Come on.”

Seth was hoisted by his shoulders first and then his feet next. Before his head rolled back, he saw Sophia and Nicole’s faces in the shadowy light of the room.

“How long is he out?”

“I hit him with as much as I could. He’s stronger than the Missouri kid, though, so I have no idea. He might be a two-shard, though I’ve been told that’s not a real thing. A few minutes?”

“Better hurry then. I have the knife.”

They dumped Seth hard on the altar, the stone smacking the back of his skull and filling his vision with stars. As they cleared, he could see in the bottom left corner of his vision, Sophia handing a black-handled knife to Nicole. The end was sharp and curved. The two of them held it in their hands, foreheads together, eyes closed as they began speaking words Seth couldn’t understand in hushed tones. Seth swallowed.

Swallowed.

Seth moved his eyes. Blinked. That was a start. He looked down. Their eyes were still closed as they chanted. Seth wiggled his augment foot. Full movement there. But still nothing in his normal foot. He cursed in his head.

The floor began to rumble, and the light to his right flickered out of existence. Instead, a shadowy luminescence shone down from somewhere above… The ceiling was gone now, only endless void that somehow lit the room. The walls were gone too, now. Only the void remained in their place. It was exactly like his dream and Seth began to panic again, concentrating on his limbs. They wouldn’t move. They refused.

Sophia and Nicole spoke in unison.

“Sacrifice. From life unto death unto life. Lord, we summon you.”

Seth’s skin prickled with goosebumps, as he felt the presence of someone in the direction of his head, but was unable to see them. Seth knew what was going on. He didn’t know why, but he forced that confusion down in his mind, trying to keep his thoughts clear. His life was in mortal danger and he needed to do something. He needed more strength, more fortitude. Nicole had said this would last a couple of minutes, hadn’t it been that long?

That deep baritone thrummed throughout the room. Nicole and Sophia gazed past Seth, gentle smiles on their faces. “Sacrifice. Unholy sacrifice. Sacrifice honored. Sacrifice returned. Do you sacrifice, Seth? Do you bring them back? Or are you the Adversary?”

Seth couldn’t stop his eyes from going wide. Nicole, her eyes now open, saw that. She moved toward him with blinding speed, hand outstretched. Seth searched deep within him for strength. His mind went back to Central Fighting Arts, to that summer he’d tested for his red tab.

Seth sprawled in the dirt, covered in bruises, arms and legs quivering jelly.

“Get up,” said Ms. Tull. “Your test isn’t over.”

Seth curled his lips in determination and pushed himself off the ground with a shaky arm. One of the black tabs swept his arm away and Seth fell down.

“Seth, if you don’t get up in five seconds, you fail the test.”

Seth’s thoughts went to Jayson. Jayson hadn’t been nominated. Jayson had been kicked out. Seth was here. Seth was earning what Jayson could probably take without trying. Anger began to build in Seth’s stomach, boiling and overflowing into his chest.

“Seth stand up!”

Seth swung his leg forward and around behind him, powering through a lunge step and holding out an angled guard as a roundhouse kick crashed into him.

No, he had the strength. The demon inside him raged.

Seth rolled hard right, crashing off the altar and coming to his feet in one smooth motion, teeth bared, eyes wide open and the veins on his neck bulging. He looked to his left. No raven-winged figure stood there, only Sophia and Nicole behind the altar.

“You little bitch,” growled Nicole, vaulting over the altar. “You are not taking my family from me.” She charged, knife and hand up in a distinctly Filipino fighting guard.

Seth met the incoming lunge with the palm of his hand on her wrist, smacking it to the side, but her off-hand slapped his wrist down as she flipped the knife over and swiped sideways. The blade of the knife tore through the breast of his jacket in a ragged cut, but missed his flesh by centimeters. Seth jumped backwards and they circled.

“Sophia!”

Seth heard a rush of wind on the far side of the room and looked left to see Sophia hurling a blast of white light at him. Seth dropped hard and rolled backwards over his shoulder as the sound of crackling electricity drove past him and disappeared into the wall of darkness on his right. Nicole was already stabbing at him as Seth came up and he tried the same blocking maneuver. It was a feint. The real attack as a backhanded stab from outside his right arm toward his face.

Seth slipped her attack and ripped a hook into her stomach. She ate it like it was nothing and punished his counterattack with a level change and a swipe at his leg. Seth just managed to check it on his augment.

TING!

The sound echoed and Seth heard another rush of wind. He dove to his right, rolling as white light streaked overhead again. He came up to another charging attack, but was ready, clasping both hands onto her arm and continuing his roll backwards as he jammed his foot into her stomach pushed up with his hips hard. Nicole’s light frame launched easily ten feet with the momentum of the sacrifice throw and she flailed hard, stopping herself just on the edge of the void.

WHOOSH!

Seth threw himself to the left as the bolt impacted where he had been laying seconds ago. He came to his feet at the same time Nicole did. His demon roared, and that roar escaped his lips in a feral growl. He had promised her he would help her. He had given her his trust. But Seth was beginning to realize that people weren’t deserving of trust. That thought multiplied his anger. He felt alive as adrenaline coursed through him and he charged headlong at Nicole.

Nicole dodged to her right. Good, she bought it. Seth stopped on a dime and spun hard to his back right, his foot leaving the ground in a vicious back hook-kick. His right heel found her face and she reeled from the blow, staggering away from the swirling wall to the right.

WHOOSH!

This time Seth just dropped to a knee and stood back up as it passed. He looked Sophia dead in her eyes.

“Oh, fuck, Nicole, it’s out!”

“I fucking know!” Growled Nicole, switching up her stance and squaring up with Seth.

“What the hell is this about?” Said Seth, trying to level out his voice from the roiling rage within.

“My family,” she snapped. “I couldn’t ask you to understand, I couldn’t ask you to care. But it’s your life for theirs, and I am more than willing to make that trade.” She lunged for him.

Seth watched as her foot overextended from her rush to engage. That base was too wide. Seth took a half shuffle backwards, setting his augment foot as his rear leg, and then kicked.

Metal arced through the air at the speed of sound and his augment slammed into her thigh.

Femur snapped like a twig.

Seth followed up by snatching her wrist and throwing a straight right into her teeth. And another, and another, and another. Chips of tooth went flying and he hauled up, smashing his hand through hers and sending the knife flying away.

Nicole stepped in close and wrapped an arm around his waist, one of her legs entwining between his. Her center of gravity shifted suddenly and Seth flew down into the floor, hard, his head rebounding and his eyes filling with stars again. Seth eyes cleared to Nicole kneeling over him, reacquired knife held high.

It descended and Seth blocked. The knife went straight through his left forearm and Seth roared in pain, before shoving Nicole back with his right hand and forcing himself to his feet. The three of them stood apart. Sophia held a ball of white light between her hands. Nicole jerked on her leg, not feeling any pain as she set a snapped femur.

Seth looked down at his hands, knife through his left forearm and right fist bloody from breaking teeth. He swallowed and looked back up at the two of them. One chance.

Seth moved with blinding speed, ripping the knife from his forearm and throwing it. Sophia had no chance to react as the hilt sprouted from her sternum. She fell back, lifeless as she hit the ground.

“You bastard!” Yelled Nicole as she charged at him. Seth turned into a back kick, heel impacting her jaw and snapping her neck backwards. Her legs flew forward, and for a moment, she hung in the air, parallel to the ground. But not for long. Seth continued the turn and raised a fist high, driving it into her sternum as hard as he could.

She hit the ground, her head rebounding so hard her chin hit her chest with an audible crunch from her cervical spine. Seth took top mount and hauled back with his good hand.

“Freeze!”

Seth looked up to see a full squad of Hunter-33 moving into the room, all rifles trained on him and Nicole.

“Commander, we have the target. Unknown subject currently has her immobile. Roger.” One of the Hunters stepped forward, lowering his rifle. “Kid. I don’t know who you are, and it doesn’t matter right now. Do you know who that is?”

Seth looked down at Nicole. She looked up at him with dazed eyes. “I don’t have a clue.”

“She’s a bad, bad person. And I need to make sure you’re not aligned with her. Do you know how to kill a lich?”

“You can’t.”

“Smart kid. You know how to banish one?”

Seth shook his head as the Hunter strode forward.

“Put a bullet in its brain.” The Hunter offered a handgun. All other rifles were still trained on him.

Seth stared, eyes wide, limbs shaky, pain throughout his body. The black metal of the gun glinted in the strange light of the void. He swallowed. He swallowed as Ben's words from only a few days prior came back to him.

“Sometimes you have to be willing to be a monster to survive in this world.”

Seth took the gun.

The Hunter stepped back as Seth pressed the barrel to Nicole’s forehead. Cognizance fluttered in her eyes, though with her spine broken, she couldn’t fight back. “Seth, what are you doing?” She said through broken teeth.

Seth saw his life that had led him here. Everything. The training, the tournament, the breakup… No. None of that had taken him here, it had been the manipulations of this girl that had brought him to an altar to be sacrificed. His only mistake was getting on that bike with her two weeks ago. This was her fault. She was the bad seed. She had tried to kill him. The demon in him didn’t rage anymore. It hungered.

“Surviving.”

Seth pulled the trigger.