Vatuatil blades? Check.

Monster prototypes? Check.

Sensual goddess whom he harbored a healthy and rational fear of? Big check.

Lukas cracked his neck and looked in Tanya’s direction. The blonde frost-wielder was furiously whispering something with her cohorts on the other side of whatever remained of the chamber around them. He, being the gentleman he was, had walked over to the farthest wall and sat himself down until they were ready.

His initial introduction had done its job. His demonstration of power and the shock factor of having a shadow had shaken the crowd significantly. While he was yet to be referred to as an Outsider or anything of that sort, they were clearly uncomfortable about his origins. Especially Tanya.

He could imagine it perfectly from his own perspective. Knowing someone, spending time with them, fighting a common enemy and going through some unconventional experiences together, suddenly noticing that despite having known the person for a while, they didn’t have a shadow. And then to look back, and to realize that they never had a shadow. It was impossible—a shadow was the result of natural laws; it was the absence of light due to one’s mass blocking the path.

But that shadow wasn’t there, despite the person being right in front of them.

How was one supposed to react to that? The realization that the person one thought one knew was different, wrong in some way that should be absolutely impossible?

Was it not only natural to freak out and run away, swearing never to be near them ever again? Or maybe, if one was of the inclination, capture and try to experiment upon them and figure out how a person could be shadowless scientifically? Or perhaps simply attack them, out of fear of the unknown or prejudice at violation of the natural order?

Only, he was stuck in a world where the situation was the exact opposite.

Light existed, but it did not cast shadows.

“Get up!”

Lukas lifted a single eye open. Tanya had her hands on her waist in typical confrontational fashion. It was all too easy to ignore his surroundings and pretend he was on Earth, and the person in front of him was just another human being.

But she wasn’t. This wasn’t Earth. This was a world with different rules, different species, different powers and abilities. And in this world, he was the stranger.

The violator.

The Outsider.

“Why?” he lazily asked.

“Should I answer you literally?”

“I think I’d like that.”

Her lips twisted into a half frown, though the light in her eyes suggested that she expected his defiance. Leaning forward, she spoke in a voice colder than ice. “Because I said so.”

Lukas suppressed the urge to smile. “And if I don’t?”

“Listen, you’re already in deep shit. A fugitive adventurer is one thing. But an Outsider?”

Lukas barely suppressed a flinch at her use of that term.

“I’m trying to set you up and keep your secret safe. The least you can do is stop throwing tantrums like a child.”

“Not quite,” Lukas quipped. “You see, every deal is made as an act of good faith. I’m, in your words, an Outsider. A stranger to your culture. Your world. You and I had a deal back then. I’d take care of the anomaly core, and in return, you’d—”

“Set you up, yes. But that was under false pretenses. You told me you were an adventurer from Maluscion, not a damned Outsider.”

“Could you stop calling me that?”

“Oh? And what would you have me call you?”

“I have a name. Use it. If nothing else, call me a…I don’t know, an otherworldly tourist?”

Tanya rolled her eyes. “And what about the fact that you turned into an insane, raving psychopath and nearly killed me?”

“I’ll buy you flowers?”

“You—GH!” She growled in exasperation. “Just—just get up and come with me!”

Lukas grinned at her foxily. When he walked over to the group, it was the one named Zuken Banksi who led the negotiations. Unsurprising. The terramancer carried himself like a diplomat. While his Terramancy was formidable, it was nothing compared to the likes that Solana had so casually demonstrated in person. He had an easygoing smile on his face, enough to distract one from his calculative eyes, not to mention the only person that fitted the bill.

The “Olfric” guy was more than likely to attack him, which was ironic since Lukas was technically Olfric’s victim. The realization that the marid prototype stored in his Array originally belonged to this sucker made his inner child happy.

Tanya obviously had a conflict of interest involved, and Elena—

She was too busy staring at him, with a hungry look in her eyes, like a cat watching its prey. It was almost enough to give him a complex.

“Tanya here,” the terramancer began, “has helped me understand that it was you who killed the anomaly’s guardian. And then—”

“Got fucked in the head by this anomaly and turned into a raving murder-hobo.”

Tanya grimaced.

Zuken continued, unfazed. “She has described you to be a competent bladeslinger, a warrior with a frightening degree of regeneration prowess, a pyromancer with the ability to avoid Sin, and a polyglot of several of our languages.”

Lukas coughed with an odd feeling of embarrassment. “More or less.”

There was the Kinetomancy he had gained from Inanna, that and the entire psionics thing. There was also Metamancy gained from the yurei, and potential Aquamancy from the marid he had siphoned but had yet to use in a fight. Not to mention the thoggua’s Shatterpoint Intuition.

“Remarkable. The skills you boast can only come from experience. I imagine your regeneration allows you to stay young. How old are you anyway?”

“I’ll be hitting my twenty-first birthday soon.”

Everyone around him was looking like he had just grown a second head.

“…what?”

“Twenty-one,” Zuken asked.

“That’s what the math says.”

“I suppose an Outsider does not fit into our world’s frame of reference.” Zuken rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What about that raving psychopath thing? Is there a chance of it happening again?”

Lukas scowled. “I…don’t think so.”

“Then there is your familiarity with our world, customs, and languages. I assume this isn’t the first time you’ve been here.”

Crap. That was a difficult question. If he said yes, it’d probably end the matter, but it would open up a new box of worms. What were the places he had visited in the past? Whom had he interacted with?

On the contrary, the opposite would open a different door. How was he so familiar with the languages? How did he know so much about Maluscion? Did his people also travel from his world to this one before?

There was simply no correct way to answer it. So he did neither.

“All this interrogation makes me feel like a prisoner. How about you start answering some questions in the spirit of fairness and all that? Why are you in this anomaly? Why do you want to destroy it? And why is she”—he jabbed a thumb toward Tanya—“taking the hit for the team?”

Zuken’s mouth turned faintly up at the corners. “You make a good point, but answers to those questions deal with our national security. I don’t feel comfortable trusting an Outsider with them. Now, Tanya tells me that you want a life for yourself here. Employment. Residence.”

Lukas nodded.

“I can get you all those things, and in return, I shall have the right to command your services. In exchange for appropriate remuneration.”

Where have I heard that before?

“I should feel affronted at this, mortal. This is the second time you have agreed to someone else’s employment offer.”

Envy is an ugly, ugly thing. It doesn’t suit you.

“Are we in agreement?” Zuken asked.

“Yes, but not before I’ve got a couple of things cleared up,” Lukas said.

“You’re in over your head if you think you can worm conditions out of—” Olfric began.

“Hush!” Lukas silenced him. “The adults are talking. I’ve yet to spank you for that earlier tantrum.”

He didn’t miss how the aquamancer flinched at the description of his actions. Then again, considering they had seen him in action with the failsafe’s skill set, tantrum seemed oddly appropriate.

He looked back toward Zuken. “I understand that Tanya was supposed to kill the anomaly for you. Well, I’m doing that. I want you to ensure that she doesn’t suffer a loss in this new deal.”

Tanya’s poker face was impeccable. The slight coloring of her cheeks wasn’t.

“That hardly seems fair,” Zuken replied briskly. “Why should I pay double for services rendered? I’m already paying you by getting you a place in the kingdom, and future employment in exchange for your doing the deed. Tanya, on the other hand—”

“—gets everything she’s promised,” he stressed. “I might be able to end the anomaly without amassing Sin, but her aid in the endeavor would be appreciated. Plus, she got you a new potential employee. Me. If I were you, I’d be handing her a bonus.”

“Then perhaps I can just pay her as was decided and leave your demands unfulfilled.”

Lukas wasn’t fooled in the slightest. The terramancer had an excellent poker face on, but there was no hiding the glimmer of satisfaction in his eyes. There was no doubt he had plans for him, and this was merely a test, of sorts, to identify his potential use.

Two could play at this game.

“Good,” Lukas said, grinning. “That way I don’t have to work for a miser who can’t keep to his terms.” Even though the heat was missing from his voice, it still carried a sense of finality with it. “Don’t kid yourself. You aren’t doing me any favors here. You can’t get my services without getting me appropriate documentation and lodging. And even then, you’d have to pay me a salary. The way I see it, I’m just helping her out.”“Can you guys stop talking about me like I’m not even here?” Tanya growled.

“Actually, I’m done talking,” Lukas replied, standing up. “You guys clearly have everything covered. Maybe someone else in these caves will be willing to hire me for my services.”

“Like the yokai, you mean?” Olfric asked out of nowhere.

It was a testament to his experience in this hellhole that Lukas’s first instinct was to activate tachypsychia. As his perception dilated beyond twice its usual speed, he calmly observed everyone. Clearly, they had some solid proof behind that statement and only wanted to confirm it from his own expression. The aquamancer had attacked him earlier, and Solana’s yokai bodyguards must have attacked him. Two and two made four.

This wasn’t a negotiation. This was a setup.

“Yokai?” he asked with feigned curiosity. “What’s that?”

“Come now.” Zuken chuckled. “Surely you haven’t forgotten the creatures that attacked him earlier?”

“You mean when the aqua-idiot struck me from behind?” Lukas was genuinely surprised by how venomous the accusation was. It was so easy to give in and lose his temper. He could feel the specters of the monster prototypes stored in him rising in the back of his mind, each wanting to do something macabre to the useless stain that had tried to murder him in cold blood.

“I personally apologize for Olfric’s behavior in the past,” Zuken interjected. And to his credit, he did look regretful. “What he did wasn’t right in any way.”

“Keep your apologies to yourself. If it wasn’t for my healing powers, I’d be dead,” Lukas snapped back. He was furious, enough so that it surprised even him. His control over his emotions suddenly felt askew. “Where I come from, he could’ve been hanged for murder.”

“Hanged?”

“Tie a rope around his neck and drop him off a tree. Death by strangulation.” Lukas shrugged.

He didn’t know if it was the macabre description or his control over his power wavering, but the people around him paled. Zuken no longer looked as confident, and his eyes became hard and sharp like daggers.

Lukas exhaled. The creeping madness within him slowly ebbed, until the rage passed completely. “Sorry,” he said finally. “Don’t know what got hold of me there. I’m not a fan of violence, and I try to avoid it whenever I can. However…”His eyes drifted to Olfric, who had taken a few steps back. “Sometimes a stern chastisement is needed to smooth things over.”

No one spoke, until Zuken bravely decided to break the silence.

“Perhaps we can come to a compromise here. Olfric has done you a great wrong. As such, he’ll pay thirty percent of his profits from this mission to you. In return, you stop any deliberate attempts at antagonism.” He sharply glanced at Olfric, as if daring him to contradict. “In addition, you offer your skills and support in finishing this mission successfully. Once we’re done, I will get you to Haviskali and procure appropriate documentation for you. Until then, we’ll just need you to find a place to lay low.”

“He can live with me. At the Meewich Gate, I mean,” Tanya added quickly. “It’s where I shacked up before the Army came for me.”

Elena and Olfric exchanged knowing looks. Zuken just looked amused.

“Well?”

“What kind of services are we talking about?” Lukas asked. “I may not look it, but I don’t get my kicks from cold-blooded murder.”

“That makes things easier, because I’m not interested in hiring someone for morally reprehensible acts. Also, I’ll need you to sign a contract later.”

Lukas looked at him. Then at Tanya. Then back at him.

We don’t want to lose the girl, he thought. That’s what you said, right?

“Correct,” Inanna replied.

“Yes, we are in agreement,” Lukas said.

“Fantastic.” Zuken smiled. “Then please, lead the way.”

“What makes you think I know how to get to the core?”

“You were already heading there before you ran into any of us, correct? Admittedly, our group does not know the way forward, so if you don’t either, then we will be searching blindly either way.” Zuken gestured ahead, a knowing grin on his face.

Lukas blandly smiled, before leading the group deeper into the anomaly. Truthfully, the awareness he’d gained as a result of the “failsafe hack” allowed him to instinctively seek out the source of the crypt’s power.

The anomaly’s core. Also known as its omphalos.

And he was planning on leading the group there. He just didn’t like the fact that Zuken knew that already.

Briefly, Lukas wondered what Solana would think of this. He still had no clue if his yokai bodyguards were still following him. Solana had been very clear about what she’d do if he joined the other side.

“She would know you broke her heart.”

And now he had that mental image to forget. Lukas Aguilar, breaker of monsters’ hearts.

“You call her a monster. What do you think your compatriots think you are?”

That’s—

The words died in his mouth. He had seen the way his new teammates looked at him. He got those looks a lot these days. Sometimes even in his own reflection. Sighing to himself, Lukas banished the thoughts from his mind and took the opportunity to call up his Soulscape.

SOULSCAPE

NAME

Lukas Aguilar

Type

Base Host

Level

7

Experience

239

Current Threshold

1960

Utilized Soul Capacity

14079 / 14473

ESSENCE

Maximum Lifeforce Output

3475

Replenishment Rate

540 / hour

LEY LINE NETWORK

Maximum Mana Output

4725

Synthesis Rate

650 / hour

SKILL ATTRIBUTES

SKILL

LEVEL

CONSUMED SOUL CAP

Raw Lifeforce Manipulation

3

5000

Momentum Manipulation

3

5000

Friction Modulation

2

500

Pressure Modulation

2

500

Kinetomancy (FRAGMENTED)

APEX

1279

Fire Creation

1

50

Fire Manipulation

2

500

Temperature Modulation

2

500

Perception Manipulation

1

50

Conjuration

1

50

Disintegration

1

50

Seismic Sensing

1

50

Shatterpoint Intuition

2

500

Psychomancy

1

50

OMPHALOS ATTRIBUTES

Energy Reservoir Capacity

∞

Current Energy Level

736,986,204 units

OMPHALOS FUNCTIONS

Scan

Level 2

Analyze

Level 2

Prophylaxis

Level 2

Soul Siphon

NA

Alpha Condition`

Level 2

Evocation

Level 2

The Warmonger Protocol had brought new benefits. There weren’t any new functions, but the Alpha Condition and Evocation functions had gained an upgrade. His mana output increased by 50%, lifting it to a staggering 4,725. His mana synthesis had grown even more, now almost twice its original value.

“Can I ask you something?” a voice suddenly interrupted.

Lukas looked to his right and found Tanya walking next to him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Zuken and the others trailing close behind, maintaining a respectable distance from him.

“Sure,” he replied.

“You made sure I got my full payment.”

“I did.”

“Even at the risk of dropping the bargain with Zuken.”

“I’m not sure I heard an actual question there,” Lukas commented, more amused than offended by the discussion. He hadn’t expected her to trust him sight unseen. If she had, he’d have merely assumed she was naive at best and a fool at worst.

“You also agreed to his compromise. You could have demanded compensation for Olfric’s deeds. Worse, you could have killed him. But you didn’t. Instead, you’re just happy with a barely decent compromise.”

Lukas quirked an eyebrow. “Are you complaining because you got a good deal?”

“No, I’m confused at the way you chose to give up power over him,” she replied. “I attacked you, but you’ve been nothing but accommodating to me.”

“Minus the part when I went crazy.”

“Except for that. You could’ve held your ground. You could’ve asked for more. Instead, you settled.”

“I just want to avoid unnecessary confrontation. If that means giving up a little power, then so be it.”

He might have held the upper hand, both in power and moral obligation, but he’d have to stay in this new world for a considerable future. He knew Zuken’s type. Holding it over his head would eventually devolve the situation into an ego-based powerplay.

“Yes, but…” She struggled with her words. “But why?”

“I believe what she is trying to say,” Inanna translated, “is that it makes no sense for you to surrender power and control simply to escape a verbal confrontation.”

Because the goddess in my head wants you alive and close, Lukas mentally retorted. But I can’t actually tell her that, now can I?

“Even so, you have fought tooth and nail to keep your independence, even from me. And then you do this...”

Are you seriously comparing my deal with that guy to the one I have with you? That one, I can break whenever I want. Yours... not so much.

“Because you are aware of what can follow.”

That too. But also because we’re... us. Zuken is just a convenience.

“You flatter me.”

“Lukas?” Tanya called out.

“Let’s just say I didn’t want it to devolve into a situation where you all died in a horrible fashion,” he replied to her.

“I’m nobody to you,” came her monotonous reply. “What does it matter if I live or die?”

Because Inanna will be pissed if that happens. And he’d feel bad too. Or at least bothered.

“Oh you would. In more ways than one.”

Lukas happily ignored her, and instead turned his attention to the girl. “Because I’m a hypocrite who can butcher droves of monsters, but will get cold feet over killing someone who looks like hu—bremetan.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why would your feet go cold? Is that some curse you were afflicted with?”

“…”

“Well?”

Lukas sighed. He’d been more at ease when dealing with Solana. “It’s just the smarter thing to do. You kill someone, then their family and friends will come after you or your family. And on and on. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Tanya looked bitterly amused. “And you think I have people ready to avenge my death should a horrible fate befall me.”

“It’s the principle of the matter. You and I have some history now, no matter how spotty. Now, after putting aside any unforeseen differences, we’re working together and I have a way to get an identity and a job. None of that would have been possible if I’d killed you.”

“I see.” She nodded, seemingly enlightened. “Acknowledgement of aid can provide further aid. Unnecessary killing may actually hinder the fruits of one’s labor.”

Lukas sighed. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

…

“Were you a soldier?”

The sudden shift in conversation caught him off guard. Again.

“In your world, I mean. This is the first time I’ve encountered an Outsider, so I’m curious. Someone with your skills would definitely make it to the Army. Or at least a private military.”

“Actually, I was a student,” he replied. Seeing her visible puzzlement, he tried a different route. “It’s like a—okay, how would you—yeah. An apprentice. It’s like being an apprentice.”

“So your master was a soldier?”

“A teacher.”

Tanya frowned, searching his face for a hint of a lie. Finding none, she demanded, “Of what?”

“The law.”

Tanya did a double take. “You were studying to become a diplomat?”

He spread his arms wide in an inviting gesture. “Don’t I look the part?”

“…You do.” A slight frown creased her features, “But you also look very much like a warlord. With your skills and experience, I mean. Except, well, you’re young.”

Once again, Lukas ignored Inanna’s response, though it was difficult this time around, with her laughter booming inside of his head. “And that’s a bad thing?”

Tanya considered that for a moment before shaking her head slowly. “Is that why you’re here? Why you can speak our tongues? A diplomat between worlds does sound like a prestigious job. You should have mentioned that earlier during the negotiations.”

Lukas shrugged. “The way I see it, I got to know them through you. But if you’re feeling too bad about it, you can always help me acclimatize with your kingdom.” He extended his hand. “Do we have an accord?”

Tanya smiled. “We do.”

She shook it firmly.