“FUCK OFF!”

The mage releases his grip on my neck when I feel a shockwave in the air, and I hear cracking glass and broken concrete as I fall on the floor like a ragdoll. The sword in my stomach breaks in two, it’s like the part of the blade that was in my body ceased to exist. Steve grabs me by the shoulders and shouts something, but I can’t understand a word.

Everything is blurry and slowed down, I am here… Yet I’m not, I am a spectator in my body.

EnD it All.

LifE is PaiN.

My distorted thoughts resonate in my head like a thousand voices screaming in unison.

...Steve's PoV...

Fuck… what am I supposed to do?!

I punched the mage as hard as I could and Riley is doing his best to fight him. But it’s clear he’s getting overwhelmed so I better take care of the convulsing and quivering mess in front of me.

If I’m being honest, I acted on instinct. I felt absolute anger and hatred for him when he plunged his sword into John. And, in the next moment, my fist was hitting the robed figure so hard that my bones cracked.

However I’m sure of one thing, I have to help the Fangless… No, that’s not right.

I have to help my friend!

“Calm down!” My shout has no effect on him, and I realize that my efforts are futile once I get a glimpse of his eyes.

They look lifeless, a thousand yard stare with a hint of madness I sometimes see in the eyes of my mother, and lately even my brother. It's a look I know too well: The look of someone that has seen too much, the look of someone who lost more than blood on the battlefield.

We are trained to cope with the pain and terror of being Enforcers, so we can endure the nightmares and avoid the breakdowns. But even our training has limits. Even the most grizzled veterans have to stop going on missions after a certain number of years of service or they'll end up insane.

But John had no training so I can’t imagine what being tortured by the death mage did to his unprepared mind.

There’s nothing I can do for now.

I don’t have the time and skills to heal his scarred mind. So I knock John out with a simple spell and hide him in one of the least damaged shops before rushing to my brother's side.

“So you’re finally showing up, I thought you ran away!” Riley smirks once he sees me arrive.

He’s not looking good: He has bruises and cuts all over his body, his breathing is ragged and irregular and a trickle of blood flows from his mouth.

“Two of you won’t make a difference!” the mage screams like a madman and raises his hand. I feel an astonishing amount of mana compressing in his hand so I jump to the side, avoiding the large Death Beam he produced by a few feet.

"What should we do?!" I shout to my brother as we dance around the beams of death. We're lucky that's he's relying on volume of fire rather than precision, or else we would be dead meat.

“I’ll distract him! You use the Tracker!” he shouts back as he launches a bolt of fire towards the mage who doesn’t notice the attack that bounces off his skin without leaving a mark.

I nod and focus: Riley using offensive magic means that the situation is truly desperate since our only affinities for the arcane arts lies in body strengthening and defensive spells.

My brother jumps around, throwing flames and lightning to the mage who shrugs it off and counterattacks with rays of death that cut holes through the concrete walls. I do my best to conceal my presence and sneak behind my target.

Riley makes a smokescreen appear between him and his opponent, causing the madman to sneer.

“Do you think a simple smokescreen will stop me?! YOU FOOL!” his eyes shine red as he gathers mana in his raised hands.

I Shadow Walk from my cover and crush the glass orb against the ribs of the mage. He gasps in surprise before sliding on the floor while digging a small trench behind him. I don’t leave him any time to react and Shadow Walk on top of him, mana is already coursing through my fist as I speed up in the air.

The spell finishes a second before I hit him in the chest, causing a loud shockwave to resonate in the plaza. My attack sends a ripple through the air that destroys the few intact glass panes remaining but it only makes him cough up a few flecks of black blood.

The mage covers his body in lightning, paralyzing me for a single second. But it’s enough for him to teleport away so he emerges in front of me. His robe got shredded by my last attack, so I could look at his face.

And I understand why he wants to hide it.

His face is a black mummified skull covered in intricate engravings pulsing with blue energy and his empty eye sockets are the home of two red coals. His desiccated mouth shifts into a grin and he raises his hand, compressing a massive amount of mana into the tip of his index.

“You saw my true appearance! I may have underestimated you. Rejoice, for I will use my full power-”

But a blur crashes into his side before he can finish his sentence and the sound of broken glass echoes into the plaza. The blur turns out to be my brother, who collapses on the ground with a heavy breath. I notice that his legs and one of his arms are only mangled pieces of flesh dangling from his body by a few threads.

He compressed so much mana and strengthening spells in his legs that they exploded! And he used even more mana to make his attack as strong as possible!

My little brother is insane.

“D-Did I get him?” he asks with a weak voice.

I glance at the pile of rubble and see a robed figure sinking into the ground. Pursuing him right now would be foolish, especially with Riley and John being is such a state.

I nod and explain the situation to my brother who smiles, “I’m sure he will remember that one…” he coughs a puddle of deep crimson blood.

“Looks like I’m not in a good shape... where is John? I hope he’s all right.”

He's at death's door and he's still worried about other people, he's really something else. But I can't tell him the truth since he'll panic and do something unreasonable again.

“Don’t worry! He got knocked out, so I hid him in a shop nearby.” I take out a syringe and empty its contents into his neck, causing him to convulse as his body regenerates.

“Phew...” Riley grimaces as he flexes his new limbs and does a few stretches.

"You should take it easy, you lost three limbs.” but he ignores my comment and continues.

“Is the Tracker working?”

I sit down and close my eyes, focusing on the tug I feel on my mana and open my eyes again.

“It is, I have a clear mana signature. We can finally track that bastard down.”

Riley smiles and cracks his knuckles.

...John's PoV...

My head hurts… Where am I? What happened?

I open my eyes and look around: I’m back in the dusty room where we planned the attack. I get up from the couch and grimace since a sudden painful headache flares up.

What happened? I can't remember much… The last thing I remember is Steve warning me, then there's nothing.

My headache gets stronger, and I fall back on the couch. I take deep breaths until the throbbing in my head calms down. I hear some rustling from another room and reach for my pistol… But it’s not here.

Fuck!

My eyes scan the place for a weapon but I can't find anything so I stay still, ready to pounce on whoever my assailant is. I tense up when I hear the footsteps getting closer. I am about to pounce on Riley once he opens the door but I reign in my instincts at the last second once I recognize him.

"So you're awake! Glad to see you're all right!" the Werewolf flashes a beaming smile.

I smile back, “And it’s nice to see you’re still in one piece. But what happened to me? I can’t remember much.”

“I didn’t see it directly but Steve said you got knocked out by the mage. But don’t worry! You were only out for an hour so you should be fine.” Riley answers.

I nod and look for the second Werewolf. He notices my gaze, “Don’t worry about Steve, he’s busy configuring the Tracker in the kitchen.”

“So it worked then?”

My friend answers with a nod. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders since I wouldn’t know what to do if this plan didn’t work out.

“By the way,” I survey the room, “do you know where my pistol is? I don’t have it on me and I can’t find it anywhere.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, I must admit that it didn’t cross our mind… But we still have your backpack and your rifle.” Riley answers while lowering his head.

“Oh well, it’s not really an issue. I can just buy another handgun later.” I reassure my friend with a pat on the back.

"We can go buy one right now if you want. Steve will take a while to do what he has to do and I need to go buy some snacks. There’s a gun store next to the shopping mall so you might as well come with me.”

I nod and we Shadow Walk in a dark alleyway far from the public eye.

“So meet me here in about thirty minutes, okay?”

"Got it," I say as I make my way to the gun store I saw in the corner of my eye. The shop’s size is a bit overwhelming since it’s so much bigger than the one I went to previously. An ad catches my attention while I browse the handgun section:

NEW!! FK BRNO Field Pistol chambered in 7.5FK! Incredible penetrating power! Get it while the stock lasts!

This is interesting!

The major flaw of my current arsenal is the lack of power of my handgun: 9mm is just not enough to put a dent in a personal shield like the one worn by the mage. And it’s problematic when I’m in situations where I don’t have access to my rifle. So this might be a good replacement for my Glock 19.

I walk over to the counter and ask the clerk to see the pistol. He pulls one from under his counter and hands it to me. The first thing that surprises me is the size of the weapon: I was expecting a heavy and bulky slab of metal like a Desert Eagle. But it’s still easily concealable and lightweight despite being bigger than my previous handgun.

The clerk explains its characteristics, and I’m increasingly convinced that this is a good weapon for me. I finally buy it along with a new shoulder holster, extra magazines, and boxes of ammunition.

It better be worth it, or I wasted a lot of money! That gun is expensive, and the ammo isn’t cheap either.

Riley is waiting for me in the alleyway while holding a massive plastic bag filled to the brim with snacks. He smiles at me and teleport us away without a word. He then goes to the kitchen while I sit in the main room and unpack my stuff.

I equip the new holster after throwing the old one away and fill the magazines with ammunition before putting one in the gun and equipping the rest. I also swap the boxes of 9mm with the boxes of 7.5FK in my backpack, it’s a bit of a waste but it’s not something I should concern myself with right now.

Then I put the gun in the holster and practice pulling it out and putting it back in until I’m used to how the gun handles and the weight on my left side. I put a stop to my training when the two Werewolves emerge from the kitchen, each with a chocolate bar in their mouth.

Steve inspects me and smile, “Glad to see you’re all right, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine! You look like you’re not injured too. And I’m sorry for getting knocked out in the middle of the battle despite your warning. I’m such a burden...”

Steve looks at me with concern, “Don’t say that, we couldn’t have stopped the massacre that was about to happen without your help. But you don’t remember anything else?” I shake my head and his shoulders slumps.

"Maybe it's for the better," he mumbles before putting something on the table.

What did he mean by this? Maybe I’m just imagining things.

I stop thinking about his words and focus on the device that looks like a small tablet.

“This is a Mana Tracking Device or MTD for short. You just insert a mana signature into the device and it will track the signature everywhere on the planet. Some even work across planets and universes, but they are too expensive to be stolen without being noticed.”

I nod and he turns on the MTD, “I already put the Tracker’s signature in it, so it should show us the location of the mage for the next five hours until the Tracker wears off.”

We all hold our breath as a loading screen appears on the device. Anxiety wells up in my stomach: I hadn’t considered the possibility of the mage being from another planet or even another universe. If that’s the case then tracking him down is almost impossible. And I don’t think we want to make the rest of the Wolfheart even angrier by stealing one of their good MTDs.

A collective sigh of relief resounds across the room when the device dings and shows SIGNATURE FOUND in green letters before displaying a map with a red dot in the middle.

“We found him! Now let’s look at the coordinates…Looks like he’s underground.” Steve presses his finger on the device and a 3d holographic map suddenly appears on top of the device.

Holy shit, this is amazing!

Steve moves his fingers around the map, making it zoom and rotate until we get a better view of the mage’s hideout. He’s hiding at the bottom of a large cave system with no access to the surface.

“So what do we do now?” I ask with expectation, my mind is already racing with images of us storming his lair and kicking his ass.

"Don't get too excited, we can't just teleport in there and destroy everything," Riley says with an amused voice.

I feel like he read my mind… Can Werewolves do that?

“So why can’t we Shadow Walk in there?” I ask with a hint of disappointment.

“Look at the coordinates, it’s halfway across the planet, you can’t Shadow Walk that far.” Steve answers. “We must use a better way of teleporting, but we need to decide on a ritual first.”

“So a Portal or Spatial Connection, what do you think is the best?” Riley asks while Steve cups his chin.

"I think Portal is better, we don't know what's in there so I don't want to take too many risks."

I raise a hand, “I’m sorry to interrupt but… What are you talking about?”

"Sorry, I sometimes forget that all of this is new to you." Riley stands up, “We have two options for long-range teleportation: Portal and Spatial Connection. They do the same thing since they create a portal to instantly travel between two locations but there are key differences between the two.

Portal only allows for one-way travel. So something can't enter from the exit portal and you also can't see through the portals. On the other hand, Spatial Connection is based on a different principle, it actually-"

He suddenly stops and looks down, he’s clearly embarrassed.

“Listen to me, rambling about stuff you probably don’t care about.” he clears his throat, “To make it simple, Spatial Connection distort space and connect two points together. This makes two-way travel possible. The spell’s portals are see-through so you can see what’s on the other side without poking your head through the portals.”

“I can see why you would choose Portal in our situation.” I say.

It’s pretty clear now: We don’t know what could lurk in the mage’s lair so using Spatial Connection could expose us to a counterattack we weren’t prepared for.

"No problem, but we need to also prepare countermeasures since it's likely that there'll be traps.” Riley turns towards his brother, “But I’ll need stuff from the Main Depot’s Restricted Area if we want to do this properly. Do you think you can raid it?”

Steve shook his head, “It’s impossible. The entrance to the Restricted Area is well-guarded and strictly regulated. And we can’t bypass the security by Shadow Walking in there. And, even if we could, the security system would trigger as soon as we take a step in there. To make matters worse, each item in there is tracked. So we’re not going far even if we miraculously steal one.”

Riley scowls and grabs the briefcase near the table, "All right, then I'll try to jury-rig something with what's in there. It won't be perfect, but at least it should work…”

The way his voice didn’t carry its usual confidence worries me a bit.

I don’t want to fuse with a fly that happened to be nearby!