Evening fell as Azrael approached the gate again. After his stunt he’d retreated to a safer distance, using the shadows of the people waiting in line to make a swift escape. Though [Shadow Step] let him traverse through distance at a prodigious rate it was currently still limited to a dozen or a so meters per time. He had confidence that with practice he would be able to travel larger distances through the shadow realm, but at the moment that was his limit.

Currently, he was securely hidden under a wagon in the line that was waiting to enter the city. Despite it flawlessly working in movies, he wasn’t sure it was going to work for him now.

“You know this isn’t going to work, right?” Sera chided “It’s too obvious.”

Azrael didn’t answer, instead eyeing the ever-decreasing distance to the bridge. There had to be some truth in movies, right?

Earlier, after his explosion, another ten guards had rushed across the bridge from the city, reinforcing the number at the bridge entrance. Two more people dressed in the white garbs of the Holy Empire accompanied them – a mage and a priest type. This brought the number of potential enemies up to sixteen.

Unfortunately for him the priest and the mage were too far away for him to use [Lord’s Insight] on them, meaning that he couldn’t glean any information and make a counterplan while he waited.

The lax attitude of the guards from earlier was gone too, with each of them thoroughly inspecting and interrogating every person, wagon and rider. Once checked the travellers were given a small plate – possibly a city pass. Despite the slower process the speed of the line hadn’t decreased at all, owing to the extra personnel.

“They’re going to check under the cart” Sera warned, fretting for his safety.

Azrael kept his silence. He was confident in his ability to escape again, but he wanted to get into the city, not constantly be on the run. And to get in he needed to pass all sixteen guards.

He eyed the priest and the mage. Out of everyone they were the biggest threat, despite the entire group not having the highest of levels. It was more of the fact that those two presented unknown elements. The girl who’s discovered his village, Sophie, had been a priest type. Despite that she’d also had wind mage like abilities and cleansing type buffs.

The potential for the priest to grant attribute buffs to the guards was a high possibility, while the mage as a pure magic caster presented a possibly larger danger. Depending if he was an elemental, a defensive or a ranged caster the battle could get complicated. This meant that the priest and mage were priority targets if a fight were to occur, not that it should. He hoped.

One against sixteen were not odds that he liked, especially when entering enemy territory. Still, it was a risk he had to take if he didn’t want to take a detour around the outside of the first ring, which would add on at least another week to his journey.

When the wagon he was under stopped and submitted itself to a search three pairs of eyes looked out of his – his own, Sera’s, and the eyes of the Beast. One hoped to pass by as quickly as possible, one hoped he would stay safe and the third was just waiting for the fighting to begin. Azrael pulled himself up deeper into the dark shadow under the cart.

Keeping an eye on the two pairs of guard boots on either side of his field of view, Azrael slipped into [Meditation], letting the comforting breathing patterns slow his breath. At the same time, he drew upon [Calm Mind], letting it cool off some of the adrenaline raging through his blood. He felt the Beast growl in disgust and annoyance as his thinking partially cleared. He smiled. Now that he understood it a little better, he’d realised that in some ways it was very much like an overexcited puppy – though a slightly blood thirsty puppy.

The wheels of the cart began moving forward again, the guards apparently satisfied that it was clear for entry. Azrael smiled. It had been a few hours since the extra guards had arrived, reinforcing the position. They hadn’t been relieved either. It was no wonder that the guards had grown lax.

“I told you so” Azrael mentally smirked at Sera.

He’d figured that eventually the guards would begin to relax and skip a full check. Under the cart was too obvious of a way to sneak in, especially for a player. As for an NPC beggar, well… it wasn’t worth the effort.

Now, the cart clattered forward, moving closer to the bridge. Azrael passed by the guards, all of them oblivious to his position by their feet. He watched the bridge move ever closer. If all went well he would ride the cart into the city, before using [Shadow Step] to drop into the shadow below and hopefully emerge in side alley. A second later Azrael felt that something in his plan had gone horribly wrong, as he felt a gentle force pass over him, soft and intangible.

A moment later Azrael felt that intangible something snap tight around him, like a snare. Simultaneously, a shrill alarm rang out, filling the air. There was a clattering of boots and the cry of raised voices. The cart came to a rumbling halt.

“I told you so” Sera said, smugly throwing his words back at him.

“They still haven’t checked under the cart” Azrael grumbled.

He flexed a muscle, noticing that the force didn’t actually stop him from moving. A moment later his attention was focused elsewhere, as several pair of boots stopped beside the cart. A hand gripped under the edge.

Azrael didn’t bother waiting around to be found and dropped down into the shadow below him. Unlike the previous times where he’d smoothly dived into a shadow there was a sudden lurch, as if he was a fish straining against an invisible line. In the depths of the shadow realm he pulled at it and it snapped. The recoil of that action however forcefully expelled him out from the nearest shadow.

Disorientated, Azrael felt himself suddenly out once again in the real world, hunched over and barely stopping himself from retching. Though the ‘line’ had snapped, Azrael felt the unpleasant bite of a ‘hook’ still digging into him. It wasn’t painful, but he felt an intense and immediate dislike at the sensation. The force of the recoil was still tingling through his muscles.

Around him ten guards pointed their spears around him, while the last four kept panicking people in control. The terrified wagon owner crouched on the ground, his hands over his head. Both the mage and the priest were looking at him and he felt the familiar wave of divine energy washing over him.

“A copper for a poor beggar?” Azrael asked one of the guards with an uncomfortable smile, in the vain hope to defuse the situation.

The spears bristled and the circle tightened around him.

“I’ll take that as a no” Azrael muttered under his breath.

[Shadow Step] was currently out of commission, due to whatever spell he had triggered. Though the force that had bound him had snapped he didn’t want to risk a repeat and end up debilitated and in a more precarious situation.

One of the guards, the one with the highest level, stepped forward.

“Identify yourself and surrender. You are surrounded.”

Azrael had to admit, the situation did look pretty bad. There was only one thing they had wrong. He wasn’t surrounded. He had them surrounded.

…

Ok, they did have him surrounded and there was only one of him.

So… they did have him surrounded. He wouldn’t surrender though.

“Identify yourself and surrender. You are surrounded.” The man repeated again.

“I heard you the first time” Azrael returned wearily, raising his hands into the air.

It was the mage who noticed what he was doing, but it was too late. He’d already bought enough time. The mana he’d sunk into the ground suddenly made it unstable and ten soldiers sunk into the ground up to their knees. A second later a burst of wind exploded under his feet, launching him towards the priest and the mage.

In the brief moment that he flew through the air two stone blades appeared in his hands, shimmering softly with the mana of [Reinforcement]. Azrael felt a grin form on his face, his blood pumping. Though he’d wanted to avoid a fight, he would relish the situation to see how what he’d learnt with Mor’s compared to other players. He felt a surge of satisfaction from the Beast, though it was of a darker and more primal kind. It flooded him with its emotion and power, taking the opportunity to push against its chains. He left it for the moment. It was more important to survive this first.

The priest stepped forward to meet him, undaunted, and summoned a shimmering shield of ethereal silver between himself and Azrael. Azrael didn’t halt his charge, instead kicking off the ground to jump over the shield. With [Dramatic Flair], he languidly flipped over the astounded priest and threw one of his daggers. It struck the priest and he went down. Azrael touched down onto the bridge and broke into a sprint. Briefly he felt the unidentified spell try and re-establish connection by the component that was still latched onto him, but it failed.

He didn’t care though. He was past! He had… A ball of white fire exploded beside him, sending him flying sideways into the guardrail of the bridge. There was a sharp crack as he felt one of his ribs break, but he didn’t have the time to sit around. He jumped backwards, not a moment too soon, as a second explosion threatened to take off his legs.

Azrael looked back, just in time to see the mage lob a third ball of blazing white fire in his direction. In the now dusky evening light, it looked like a shooting star streaking right for him. He jumped back. This time though he stumbled, as part of the bridge collapsed and fell into the lake below.

Resummoning his second dagger, Azrael prepared to charge at the mage with a savage grin on his face. He would appear in front of the man in a second and let his daggers cut through the man. Or else he would burn him to death. His smile turned crueller. A fire mage traumatised by fire.

He stepped forward, ready to spring at the mage, before halting. He growled in annoyance as he realised that the Beast was trying to influence him. He pushed the Beast back down with another growl – though whether the one growling was the Beast or him he wasn’t quite sure. He didn’t want to prolong the fight, he wanted to get into the city.

Turning around, towards the city, he found his way blocked. Another twenty guards were jogging towards him, their white and silver armour standing out against the regular drab browns of the civilians on the bridge. A fourth ball of fire rocked the bridge, causing more of it to crumble into the waters below.

Azrael turned to check on the mage again. He had advanced towards Azrael, the four unburied guards protecting him. Both ways were blocked. Backwards and forwards. Azrael took the only option available to him. He jumped of the bridge.

Charging a ball of compressed air beneath his foot in mid-air Azrael let it expand just before he touched the water. Charging a second and a third every time he touched the water, Azrael bounded alongside the bridge. It wouldn’t be enough though. His mana pool was bottoming out too quickly for him to reach the city. Direct manifestation of [Elemental Mana] was still too costly, but taking the time to manipulate the element was too slow in this case.

Behind him the mage advanced with his guards, while the guards ahead would soon be close enough throw their spears at him. He held no illusions that he would be able to dodge twenty spears and a fireball and escape unscathed. Even as he thought another ball of blazing white was roaring towards him.

Azrael considered his choices, discarding all of them as they came up.

Reaching the city was impossible. He didn’t have enough mana to sustain his method of travel across the water. Even if he did reach the city there were massive walls to contend with, not to mention the guards.

Returning backwards was similarly impossible. As with the previous idea he didn’t have enough mana to reach the shore either. With [Shadow Step] still potentially disabled his ability to make a tactical retreat was also inhibited, even if he did manage to safely reach the shore.

Returning to the bridge would place him in a twenty-five to one battle with little mana. Worse odds than before.

And escaping out onto the lake… was a sure way to end up nowhere. In the time that it would take to swim to either the shore or the city the guards would have had plenty of time to catch up.

He considered trying to use bursts of [Air] to jump high in the air, but dismissed that immediately as well. Not only was it more mana intensive than the occasional boost to keep him above the water, he would also be a prime target for the mage.

That left him only a single option. Azrael laughed humourlessly as he considered it. He had to be crazy, right? No, the fact that he was aware that he was crazy meant that he couldn’t be crazy. Maybe? Still, all other options had been eliminated and this was the only one left. By method of elimination, this was the right choice, if not the only choice.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself Azrael dropped both of his daggers, letting them fall into the water. A second later a fireball whistled by him, and he dived to the side – not away from the fireball, but towards it. With a desperate prayer to any god that was listening he applied [Reinforcement] to himself, pushing the skill to the limit with [Overcharge].

A pillar of scalding steam exploded upwards, sending billows of hot water up into the air and obscuring the vision of all on the bridge.

In the failing light of evening, the steam shone golden like the burning pyre of a fallen king. All on the bridge, civilian and guard alike, searched the lake for a sign of movement. Eventually though the steam cleared, revealing only the empty surface of the lake and the reflection of the first evening stars.