Traveling was a lot easier out here in the open. There was so much free room. A landscape of undead and rotting creatures didn’t seem to lend itself to flying beings. I took advantage of my vertical freedom to skip the drawbridge and track down the two players.

Requiem had plowed through a river of undead creatures. He moved quickly from one monster to the next while hacking away. Bits of monsters hung all over the castle drawbridge. At least seven different rats were floating belly up in the moat.

They were easy enough to find. I just had to follow the trail of dead bodies and girly shouting. Frankenstein was screaming in horror. Every few seconds the goofy Traveler would use that burst of speed to wiggle from one location to another. Requiem and his stupid blue glowing body was always close by, pressuring him.

I watched them dashing down one of the castle corridors. Stain glass windows were between us. Using [Blink] to get through would be easy enough if there was a good opening. Part of me hoped that Requiem would get back into a corner and I could pop in behind him.

My mind ran through the possible methods. Using an [Unexpected Strike] would cause a ton of extra damage. The moment I attacked Requiem would know my position. I opted to keep watching the other two whittle away at each other.

Frankenstein kept sending half rotted animals after Requiem Mass. Giant monster rats tried to gnaw on his face. Monkeys of questionable bowel control gibbered and clawed. Moles in the courtyard threw mud piles. We had been fighting the Traveler’s minions this entire time and I hadn’t known.

This goop on my [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] might come in use. I wasn’t sure how the game justified having a weapon that could change shape and be thrown. Maybe I was so terrible that the Voice of Balance said ‘whatever’. Part of me felt happy each time my character learned something new.

Now was a good time to practice. Requiem was running along a causeway after Frankenstein. I put the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] into spear form and got ready to lob it. If I stayed at a distance he might not notice my weapon among all the other chaos. The attempt missed wildly by clattering into the courtyard below.

“Ahh! Nononnodamnno!” I tried to say it quietly, but my voice carried. Requiem didn’t seem to notice thankfully. Building a new skill from scratch on a [Red Imp] would take far too long.

Both eyes closed and I tried to visualize the weapon coming back to my hand. Triggering new skills was always a pain in the neck. [Blink] took around seventy different attempts to be able to aim regularly. Thank goodness being down in that pit of a dungeon gave me plenty of time.

“Get away! You’re ruining everything!” Frankenstein shouted loud enough to be heard over the groans of undead monsters.

“It’s just a little pain! Come on!” Requiem Mass and his silly blue aura dodged around one torn up rat and slashed at a mole. “You’ll hardly notice!”

There wasn’t enough time for seventy attempts on weapon [Recall]ing. Not when one successful usage took ten seconds of idle behavior. Plus each [Recall] ground down the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] and its durability. The spear was back in my hand and looked to be at seventy-five percent or so from one use. I checked out the [Regeneration] progress while both Travelers chased each other around.

One minute of the Travelers trying to kill each other equaled about five percent on my weapon. That was not enough for repeated attempts. In Requiem’s world that was a dead rat monster and heavily wounded mini bear. The ursine bundle of undead-themed nonsense had tiny round ears and a slashed face.

“No! Lilly!” Frankenstein ran to grab one of the bear’s fluffy ears that had disconnected. He cradled it while sniffling.

“You named a bear Lilly?” Requiem actually paused the destructive rampage to stare at Frankenstein.

“Yes! She’s cute and you’re ruining her!” Frankenstein’s body vanished and dark red wisps of energy coalesced in a new location. He grabbed another piece of the bear named Lilly. The dive brought him amazingly close to Requiem’s stabbing blade. “Ahh! I’ll get you for this!”

“Not at this rate.” Requiem was smiling. I tried to keep out of the main picture in case a [Red Imp] flying up above would be too obvious. Stealth was not one of my character’s skills, still. If I ever had to do this again I would ask the Voices for someone sneaky.

“Shut up!” The goofy Traveler yelled. He sounded near sniffles. Something flashed like a camera going off. The bright moment caused Frankenstein to shudder. His clothes seemed made of smoke much like Jean’s had.

“Really? You’re like forty and telling people to shut up?” Requiem said.

I took advantage of the distraction to throw another spear at the back of Requiem’s head. My wings faltered for a moment causing the shot to go wild. It landed on one of the mole creatures that was mostly incapacitated. A small box displayed minor gains.

“Shut up!” Frankenstein was far too emotional about a bunch of mindless leftovers. These undead things were all gross. “You’re a jerk!”

Requiem swung a blade down and chopped at another undead rat. There were too many of the things bounding along the castle grounds even with all the destruction. More were scaling up the walls with monkeys riding their backs.

“This is why we can’t work together. You’re like a child.” Frankenstein grabbed another bit of some monster’s body and clutched it to his chest. Lilly, the mini bear, growled and charged at her enemy.

“Really? This from the man who is sad his teddy bear is falling apart? Or how about the fact that you betrayed me and refused to give me your piece?” The younger Traveler emphasized his disgust by sidestepping Lilly and pushing her over a rampart's edge.

“We could have completed it together, you unstable little brat!” Frankenstein tried to dodge off again. His clothes were a mess.

“Why would I work with you?” The younger one asked. His cheek kept twitching every time Frankenstein spoke.

“Because we could have been done!” Frankenstein whined.

Requiem snarled and dove for Frankenstein’s body. He tossed all the body parts and did that squiggly energy running. The eyeball pendant around my former master's neck flashed brightly and energy went everywhere. It was like the red foggy abilities abandoned Frankenstein in fear.

Was that the point of Requiem’s necklace? Had we gone down there to get him a piece of equipment that would counter Frankenstein’s squiggle things? Part of me felt terrible for helping make myself obsolete, but I should have expected it. The one day I chose to ignore my ‘kill Requiem mission’ and all good intentions backfired. At least my [Red Imp] self was now a free agent. With one life to risk it all.

The players kept up their endless fighting down a stairwell. Both were well below half health according to [Identification] results.

“Stay back! I’m warning you!” Frankenstein had backed into the castle's inner courtyard.

“Or what?” Requiem stalked closer. His body gave off the deeper blue hue while one sword trailed ash. The lighting made his face look twisted, especially on someone who sounded so young.

From above it was clear that Frankenstein was not at all happy. The man turned and started shouting to one of the archways. “Cliffy! Here boy! Come to papa!”

“More undead fodder?” Requiem sounded disgusted.

“No! This one is special.” Frankenstein gave one of the best evil villain laughs I had ever heard. My [Red Imp] body joined in out of some diabolical gene buried in this racial code.

An absolutely giant rotting dog slowly padded in from one of the doors leading outside. I had never seen this huge creature before in any session as the [Red Imp]. It was enough to make me whistle slowly. Plus he named it Cliffy, how neat was that?

“I’ll get you yet, and your little dog too,” Requiem said. There wasn’t a trace of humor in his words. I, however, was nearly bursting and trying not to laugh.

“Sick ‘em, boy!” Frankenstein said.

The dog didn’t move right. It bounded on three good legs and one that was terribly broken. PoserMan and his wingtip coat adopted a strange pose. He pressed both hands together and crossed his legs on the ground. Out of his body shot another round of red energy linking between him and Cliffy.

“What are you doing?” Requiem tilted his head and swung both swords again.

I was asking myself the same thing. If my teenage years of video games were any hint, Frankenstein was channeling power into the Cliffy. There were no clear indications of other player's buffs most of the time. Continue Online happily told me what I had going on, but other people were a mystery.

After five seconds, the dog was larger. After ten seconds, it was faster. Requiem couldn’t sit around letting Frankenstein continue to charge up the creature. I could at least see mana dropping down on Frankenstein’s bar. He changed his pose a bit more and the blue bar leveled off.

Requiem once again tried to charge towards his nemesis. The big undead dog, Cliffy, got in the way and snapped uneven teeth at his face. I cheered from up above as young Traveler lost health points. He pulled back away from the beast and switched out his swords.

Frankenstein was humming as part of his strange pose. Requiem dodged again and managed to get away from the dog’s repeated lunges. It would take me too much practice in order to avoid those kind of repeated attacks, even with [Blink].

Maybe. I did have lots of experience with Requiem.

If I knew him, he would be throwing materials up into the air. There, he was tossing up those short blades in an arc. I flew over to catch them. That brief bit of practice with Shazam, catching cards out of the air, helped. This was more of the same.

I managed to grab six and redirected them over Requiem’s head below. Seeing small [Unexpected Strike] windows pop up for minimal damage gave me pleasure. It was enough to put a dent in the Traveler’s health bar. I used [Blink] to hide quickly before he looked up.

“Roarrrrr!” Cliffy tried to give a ferocious growl, but it failed due to half a jaw being in shambles. Some of the projectiles that I missed struck Frankenstein as well. My help was keeping things vaguely even.

“What?” Requiem got confused. He pulled out one of his swords from the hammerspace that Travelers used. Then he tossed up more blades with his free hand like basketballs.

I blinked out and grabbed the newest projectiles quickly. There wasn’t enough time to risk dropping them on Requiem’s head. They were put to good use as throwing practice from the side instead of letting gravity take control completely.

“What is going on?” My former master demanded.

Frankenstein hummed while his giant, rotting dog swung again. The two danced back and forth all over the courtyard. Cliffy would swing a giant paw and do more damage to the surrounding mortar than anything else.

Requiem elevated his aura up to the next level. He shouted, which made the young mans hair stand on end. The last time he used these abilities Requiem could move faster and hit harder. Eventually, it built up to the black hole ability then fatigue.

I hoped that Frankenstein would be able to push him far enough. If Requiem wasted that ability I could clean up after them. With heightened speed, Cliffy and his red energy bonuses were still losing ground. Soon the creature was down another leg and couldn’t intercept the enemy Traveler anymore.

I ‘oopsed’ another rock into the side of Requiem’s head. Blades captured from Requiems’ earlier attack were kicked off the edge. Next, bits of dead moles were slid off the side to hopefully make it seem like the place was falling apart. Cliffy’s onslaught against the walls might have knocked things loose up above.

The dog was falling apart under Requiem’s assault. It charged in what had to be a suicide run.

“Go!” I shouted.

Requiem twitched and tried to use a screen of smoke. [Darkvision] saw right through it and showed the Traveler trying to dodge. The giant undead creature didn’t care in the slightest and curved to intercept.

The younger Traveler in his leather gear turned the blade and swung. It curved into the creature's neck as a giant head descended. From my angle, the dog’s mouth had opened wide and half swallowed Requiem. I started, feeling hopeful for the first time in days. Had the undead beast finished off my enemy?

First the dog’s working front leg lost traction. The hind one soon followed. They ragdolled outwards as if there were no functional muscles left. I raised a tiny hand to my mouth and tried to understand why the big head stayed up in the air.

“Well, that was useless.” The younger Traveler sounded muffled and strained. The dog’s jaw was trying to close but failing. Requiem turned his sword even more and detached the last few strands connecting its body.

Then the heavy head was heaved from Requiem over to one side. His blue aura flickered like a lightbulb stuttering. Requiem shuddered then kicked one leg, shaking off the goo. The red energy connection between the dog and Frankenstein shattered as the head fell to the side.

“Darnit!” I muttered. That would have been a perfect chance to [Blink] down and stab him. Sadly I had been lost in the fight. A few months of playing this game was not enough to completely break years of listlessness.

“Pathetic. I was never afraid of these minions of yours.” Requiem cracked his neck and rolled both shoulders. Undead body chunks were littered across his gear and hair.

“But. But. But.” Frankenstein looked pitiful next to the other player. It was strange to see a man who seemed to adore his minions become reduced to this. His clothes were still pristine despite the battle.

“Anything else?” Requiem slid his blade on the dog’s back and cleaned it off. The biggest chunks of the beast fell off. I took stock of how my ex-master was doing.

Neither one had much health. Their fourth of a health bar was still slightly more than my full one. Voices, I would love to have my Hermes body with some of these skills. Then I could just [Blink] down and swing the real [Morrigu’s Gift] into his face over and over.

“No, then? Very well. Here’s the ultimatum, give me your piece of the key, forfeit the quest. That or I’ll kill you and take it. Either way, I win.” The younger Traveler pointed a smoking sword towards Frankenstein. Ash dripped down and scattered as it hit his clothes.

“No, I can’t, I can’t do that.”

“I know your weakness, Freakinstain. I know why you always stick around this forsaken castle instead of in Othello.” Requiem said. I perked up and tried to figure out what he was talking about.

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Frankenstein may be able to act the fool, but he was also a terrible liar. Even back in the room with that giant face it was pretty clear that Frankenstein had no clue how to talk to people. He might also be a touch crazy. The jury was still out on that one.

The giant undead dog lifted its head weakly and tried to growl. Severed tendons looked gruesome. Cliffy’s head moved independently of his body. Both halves bent muscles which no longer connected in order to bite at Requiem.

“Under here is where the shrine is, isn’t it? The one to the Voice of Blood.” Requiem stomped one foot on the ground. Small vibrations shook the remains of mortar and bodies.

“Nooo. No, there’s no shrine. Nothing of the sort.” Frankenstein scrambled backward, kicking with his feet.

“See I think there is. And I’m going to kill you, break that shrine into tiny pieces, and sell them to anyone who wants a piece of the action.” The young man’s words served to set off Frankenstein.

“Seriously? You’re taking this whole game way too far.” Frankenstein’s tone changed a little. He sounded almost disappointed while standing up.

“It’ll be good gold. I’m sure there are a lot of people on the black market who would pay for a statue of her.” Requiem smiled and took a step back. The two sized each other up, one with a smile of happiness, the other with disgust.

There probably were. Jean was a fairly good looking woman, for an untouchable Voice who was already claimed by a wall of muscle. Though I imagine a statue of Vlad would stomp through and recover Jean’s.

“No! I won’t let you do that to her!” Frankenstein said. I couldn’t tell which part of him was acting anymore.

“Jean probably wouldn’t like it either,” I muttered. They were close now. Something was about to happen and I wanted to be able to get in there.

“Ahhh!” Frankenstein roared out and that red squiggly energy poured in from all over the castle. “I’ll kill you, brat!”

“Why is it all you adults think you’re so tough?” Requiem said calmly. He started chanting.

I shuddered. He would do his chant and pop that black hole. Then it would be my time to move. All the other opportunities wouldn’t stack up compared to my plan.

“I call upon the power that overcomes all!” Requiem shouted. I had enough time mentally barf. [Lithium] was a terrible language to understand.

Frankenstein kept roaring like something out a of cartoon gone wrong. Bodies from all over the castle collapsed. Red swirls of energy like the ones he used to travel and escape slithered from all over the castle.

“Ghost of a dead sun! Shadow of a singularity! Draw all into your grasp! Let nothing escape!” Requiem pulled out his sword.

I watched as the blue aura about him brightened and seemed to reach a sky blue peak. Once again it compressed. First to his arms, then hands, and finally up the sword. His weapon shone like a small blue sun.

“I’ll never let you take her!” Frankenstein sounded grotesque. Whatever he had done seemed to pump his body up to an incredible size. His body seemed to have cracks where bright red glowed through. His clothes somehow adjusted to fit his new swollen size. A red hulk with a frilly neckpiece and coattails was just wrong.

Would calling out to Frankenstein be of any use? I could warn him that Requiem was about to suck his face into a black hole. In the time it took me to figure out what was best, Frankenstein charged.

I bit my nails and worried. Requiem dove in with his one blade. Frankenstein actually whipped to one side and dodged. The super move dot of doom stayed on the sword. They bashed around a few more times. Each pass making Requiem look more annoyed.

“Enough!” Requiem shouted and yanked off the necklace. He threw it down onto the ground with his free hand.

Before the small eyeball necklace had only given single flashes. Enough to stun Frankenstein each time he tried to escape using the red energy. This time the world went white. There was no sound other than the scream of both Travelers’ yelling.

[Darkvision] didn’t seem to care. It cleared in time to see Requiem drive his blade into the air before Frankenstein. Blue hung on the blade's tip like a waterdrop rolling off. The Traveler who had been my former master hopped back and prepared to lean against the pulse of gravity. This was my chance.

“Letthestabbingshappen!” I shouted.

I used two [Blink]s quickly to get behind Requiem. One end of my weapon was planted into the ground as a prop. My strength wasn’t enough to do this on my own. The [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] quickly extended in time with a black hole’s pulse.

As force slammed him back the tip of my weapon slid through his armor. I watched in happiness as system messages popped up.

Defender failed awareness check, dodge check, reaction check: [Unexpected Strike] Adds 150% Damage

Weapon Braced, damage added

Pressure on defender, damage added

Attacking weapon exceeds remaining armor value

Requiem’s bar hit bottom. All of it, all the way down to zero. He had enough left to turn his head in broken confusion and glare at me. I gave a wide smile that had to show all my teeth while waiting out the last of his black hole ability.

Part of me felt guilty for sitting on the sidelines this entire time. Being a frail [Red Imp] meant that there was no good method to solo Requiem. This had been the chance I waited for.

Frankenstein’s health bar had also hit zero. Despite my warning of the black hole move, he didn’t take anything to heart. The issue of losing Jean’s statue had turned him inside out with rage. Most of an arm and the side of Frankenstein’s face vanished into the depths of Requiem’s attack. Everything about us had dragged across the landscape because of the pressure extended by a super move.

It was just me. The entire castle with all these bits and pieces of dead monsters was lifeless. This was a landscape of strange goodies and possible loot items that any other Traveler would be proud of. Both Travelers had been removed from competition and it was just me.

I also felt rather sick. It was one thing to try and kill someone, but another to actually do it. What had started with two humans in a forest months ago, now ended with me literally stabbing a man in the back. That was when I found out it was possible to feel both repulsed and elated at the same time.

Slowly I flew over to Frankenstein to check his body. The Traveler had faded away once his health bar had been brought to zero. Nearby there was a clearly glowing object. I lifted it up for an [Inspection].

There, this was the object that these two had been fighting over. There should be a second one over on Requiem’s body. Maybe I could put these two pieces together and complete the quest myself.

I turned to find Requiem’s half and be done with this whole bit of nonsense. Being a [Red Imp] was neat in some ways but it was way past time to move on. Everything would be done soon and Xin would be safe.

“What? Wheredid hego?” I asked. Requiem’s body was not still impaled upon the tip of my weapon. The [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] happily sat there digging into the ground.

“You.” A voice shaking with rage came from nearby.

“OhVoices, now what?” I managed to get part of a shout out before everything ended in an abrupt squeak.

“You!” I shouted. How on earth was the twerp still alive? It was completely impossible. “You died! I sawyou die!”

“Give, me, that, now.” Requiem was shaking with anger. I had never seen him so upset. His eyes were practically dark, bottomless pits of anger.

He threw me to the ground and a dazed message popped up on my screen. I tried to focus the [Blink] ability but failures popped up repeatedly due to the confusion. Requiem reached down and yanked the quest piece out of my hand.

My vision was doubled up. The [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift] was too far away. I tried to focus on activating any ability.

“And as for you,” Requiem said squeezing my neck. The [Red Imp] body had tiny hands. They made no dent against the bigger teen’s grip. “Did you think I didn’t know you were still around?”

“What?”

“Who’s the stupid one now?” He slapped me again. “Throwing objects? Thinking you’re sneaky?”

“What isgoing on?” I had believed my meager [Red Imp] form was a low enough profile amid all the chaos going on down here.

“Thinking I wouldn’t have something prepared in case you dared to show up?” Requiem completed ignored my high-speed protests. “You can’t really kill me.”

“Howdidyou!” Then I saw it, the glint on his finger. That ring looked almost exactly like the one I had received for a glitch. Now everything made sense. Requiem had a copy of [Howard’s Phylactery].

I tried to remember exactly how that item worked. My one read through had implied it stored health for a rainy day. That means Requiem either found his own during the course of gameplay or stumbled across a glitch in the world.

“No, Nonono why doyou! No! Youfound one!” I rambled off a wall of words in panic. Killing him once had been hard enough. There was no more black hole super move. First I had to get away. I tried to focus to trigger [Blink].

Requiem shook me violently. “None of that now.”

“Dammit! Ihateyou!”

“The feeling's mutual.” He lifted his blade up and got ready to stab it down.

I quickly focused my attention on the [Echo of Morrigu’s Gift]. A spear popped into my hand almost instantly. There was not enough durability and time to do more than stab at him. My tail curled then jabbed into Requiem’s leg. I turned to his foot and sunk my teeth into a toe. My small arms drove the weapon forward without deliberate aim.

He stumbled and backed off with a snarl. I immediately popped blink and came in behind him. My [Red Imp] body had sharp teeth which latched onto his neck and tore. We flailed around the room as he banged into one object after another. I hung on and tried to imagine my tail stabbing into him over and over. Hopefully the ARC would pick it up.

We crashed into a third wall and another dazed message popped up. I had enough time to look up. Requiem twisted his ash blade and slashed downward.

I put the [Echo of MOrrigu’s Gift] up to defend but it had no durability. My strength wasn’t enough. The health bar of my [Red Imp] character shattered.

Summon status being released

Contract released

Resurrection not possible

A blast of sensation crossed my face. Rapidly behind it was a sinking chill. The world went crazy with color. Pulses of energy flew by distorting Requiem’s face. He looked pained, but the health bar above showed a sliver of life left. I couldn’t feel my hands or legs. The odd sensation of having a tail and wings vanished as well.

Above all that was a sense of foreboding. The world snapped into view. The landscape was amazingly bright compared to the dull landscape of Requiem’s portion of the game.

Quest: Desperate Summons Difficulty: High Status: Failed

There was an entire wall of pop-up items displaying. None of them mattered but the one. A box that spelled an end to all my efforts. There was noise coming from all around me. People were shouting and it sounded like a war. Name tags floated above people attacking each other.

It took a moment to register. Like avoiding the realization would prevent anything from going wrong. I mentally tried to back up, to reload from a save point in life so that everything could be wished away.

My eyes were glue to the quest notice. A clear sign of my failure. Last time I had been unaware of her passing until hours later. There had been no one to blame. This time, it was all my fault. I could have saved Xin, but failed. Everything went white and I screamed.