Colin quickly gave Larry the order to use his HellRime to block the hole he made in the wall and the upper floors’ windows. To occupy this building for even a short amount of time was needed, and big holes in the wall were significant security breaches. Initially, Colin was unsure the HellRime that the Incubus made would last without him touching it. But the Demon assured his Master that it would hold for a while without him inputting Mana.

Nox worked with several sheets of paper that Colin had in storage and was writing frantically with a grin that was equal parts insanity and glee. Once Colin told the Goblin what he wanted to do, he immediately wanted paper and ink to work on the project. He was muttering about mana absorption coefficients and etheric synaptic mirroring but just kept working for several minutes.

The Auxiliary was in a shamble after their slaughter of the Krimson Spire Guild members. For once, Colin was glad the bodies vanished after several minutes because usually, he didn’t stick around long enough to care. Paladin sitting on a couch that he had righted from the back corner and was just breathing while his natural healing healed his wounds. Rielle was sharpening her sword with a whetstone that she’d pulled from her bag, trying to maintain the weapon’s sharpness. Which was near impossible given that the monsters they were fighting were made of actual metal.

Deciding that a good move would be to open his waiting prompts, he did so and was happy at the information.

You have killed an Unknown Player, and your Ability, Player Killer 1, has triggered. You have gained 1047 EXP out of their held experience points to next level. You now have 5,428/105,232 until level 17. Your Assassination subskill is now level 7. Stealthed physical attacks deal more damage, Stealthed Critical hits deal more damage, and a chance to auto-kill a foe has increased. You have killed an Unknown Player, and your Ability, Player Killer 1, has triggered. You have gained 5,801 EXP out of their held experience points to next level. You now have 11,229/105,232 until level 17. Your Summoning Magic skill is now level 5. The available options for free and directed summons have increased. Your Summon Familiar subskill is now level 5. The capabilities of your familiar have increased by a small margin. Resummon time decreased to 95 minutes. You have killed the Player Volkiere, and your ability, Player Killer 1, has triggered. You have gained 3,201 EXP of his held experience points to next level. You now have 14,430/105,232 until level 17. For defeating a hated foe that caused you to walk down the path of the Antagonist, you have gained 3 skill points for your efforts. You have taken the first step of Vengeance, don’t stop until it is done!

This was good, this was very good, the Antagonist told himself. The skill increases were great, and the experience was fantastic, but the real gift was the three Skill points. With these, he could instantly level up to three skills or one skill three times. If he chose the skill correctly, it was a shortcut to do something extraordinary. Last time he got one, he spent it on his Stealth Skill. While he did not regret that choice, he wished he had saved it for later, considering some of the skills he got later.

Deciding to save them for now, Colin decided to not spend them for now and looked towards the future; he had a debt to repay.

Colin walked up to Paladin, not wanting to have this conversation, but it was the Sumo’s price for his assistance. Compared to usual, the higher level Player had taken a solid beating from the Golem’s while Colin got his revenge. Without him, the confrontation would not have been possible, and he needed to maintain the relationship.

“Hey Paladin, how’re you feeling?” Colin asked, feeling lame for asking such a dumb question.

“Better, now that I can let my stamina recover,” Paladin stated, exhaustion showing clearly on his face. “I don’t think I can stay on for a whole lot longer today, Walker. I have things to do and a garden back home that I have been neglecting lately.”

Colin nodded, understanding the man, “I get it, man. I just felt that… we needed to talk. About what I promised you.”

Paladin gave Colin a small weary smile, “No, don’t worry about it. I’d rather not force you to tell me things like this. I’m sure you had good reasons for doing what you did. Let me just forget that you are a Player Killer and stay friends.”

Colin shook his head, “Paladin, this was the price you asked for, and you did the work. Besides, you deserve to know. This is a bit of a story, So I hope you don’t mind getting the abbreviated version.”

Paladin shook his head, and Colin started talking.

“Back on Earth, I’m married. Let’s just say that my wife could tell that I was getting, uh, bored out of my skull and bought me this game with a bonus that she’d gotten from her job. I’m not a gamer, nerd, or much into fiction of any kind besides what my wife gets me involved in. So before that moment, this game held no interest for me.”

“But because of her, I decided to give the game a try. On my first day here, I was brought into a party and betrayed the moment I got an item that they wanted. In retrospect, I knew they were bad news. Still, I think my low Wisdom Attribute was somehow messing with my decision making,” Colin paused, going over the events of that day again.

Paladin nodded, “yeah, that is one of the dangers of the early levels and why everybody puts at least a few points into wisdom. I’ve heard over the Rosengard Forums that some Players take advantage of level one or two people. Whether they become cannon fodder, unwitting recruits, and in one detailed event… sacrificed. I am saddened that there are a few people that are assholes for no reason.”

Colin nodded, “well, the man I came here to kill was one of the people in the party that betrayed me.” He finished, a sigh escaping him.

The Sumo shook his head, “I doubt that’s it, Walker.” Paladin told him honestly, not accusingly, just stating a fact. “There is something that you don’t want to tell me, Brother. I hope you know you can trust me, but I understand. We’ve only known each other a couple of days,” he said, shaking his head with a rye smile. “I’ll get there eve-”

“I’m stuck here,” Colin told him. The feeling that Colin had about Paladin wasn’t something that he could put into words right now. He had no reason to trust the man, other than how he kept helping without good reason, but he seemed like a good person. It was more than that, this Player; this man was simple in his reasoning and attitude. He was here for the world and the story, not to gain power and fight, though that was something he did well.

That was why he trusted him enough to tell him part of the truth. He was absolutely sure that he wasn’t going to tell any Player that he was a Demon Lord Candidate.

“What does that mean, You’re stuck here?” Paladin asked, hoping for clarification.

“It means that I am stuck in this game. I cannot log-out, can’t send out messages, I can’t even access my phone. Which was connected to the game,” Colin said, gritting his teeth. “I have a wife back home, and I’m sure she’s getting pissed at me for not being home. So, Paladin, that’s why I killed him. Their actions led me to go down a path that got me stuck. In. This. Game.”

“Whoa,” Paladin said. “That’s heavy, Brother.”

Nodding, Colin asked, “so, are you satisfied?”

It took a moment for Paladin to respond, and when he did, he nodded. “I am. I’m sure you still aren’t telling me everything, Walker, but that’s okay. I get it. You can trust me when I say that I will not tell anyone about this. But are you sure I shouldn’t? I could call the game company and try to figure out what’s going on,” he offered.

Colin didn’t respond immediately. “No, I don’t think it would do any good. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I doubt this could happen without them knowing. Either that or the game is beyond their control,” Colin said, shocking his head. It was not something he could admit out loud that he was starting to wonder if the game wasn’t just a game. The One God Above All Others did state that it was much more than a game, but he did not know what to make of that information, so he set it aside until it did.

“So… what? You’ll just stay here forever?” Paladin asked.

Colin shook his head, “no, I was told that there are two ways out of here. One was to win the game,” he shrugged. “Whatever that means. The other was to find a door without knobs or hinges but has four different locks. Apparently, if I figure that out and trigger it, I can go home,” Colin groaned. “I’ve been keeping an eye out for that, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”

“Shiiit,” The Sumo breathed out. “I’m sorry, man. Is there anything I can do?”

Shaking his head, Colin responded, “you’re doing it. I need help, even though I wasn’t looking for it with another player. I thank-”

“Yes!” the Goblin announced into the air, his gritty voice cutting off Colin’s statement. “I figured it out DevilWalker, We can do it!”

“Thank you,” Colin said quickly before hurrying over to Nox. “So, it IS possible?” Colin clarified.

“Indeed,” Nox nodded excitedly. “Would you like the long or short version?”

“Long,” Colin stated, needing to understand this. “But dumb it down so I can understand it.”

---

An hour later, Paladin had Logged off for the day, and Colin was standing in the middle of the living room with the entire space cleared away. He was standing in the middle of an intricately drawn magic circle that tingled with magical power. Outside the circle, Nox was watching the proceedings with interest while Colin’s wasted Mana, the energy that would typically stop being regenerated when his MP was full, was instead fed to the circle.

It would take longer to start up the ritual, but Nox designed it to be possible for someone of Colin’s level in Ritual Magic. The Antagonist held a crystal dodecahedron that was an inch across on each side in his left hand. It’s center glowed in shifting shades of green, and it had been extracted from one of the Golem’s outside.

Colin waited a moment longer until the special concoction that made up the circle started to glow a faint silver light. Nox had explained everything in detail. Like how if everything were much higher quality than needed for the ritual, then the Ritual Magic level could be much lower than necessary. For example, with Nox, a level 107 Dusk Alchemyst, making the paint used for the circle lowered the level Colin needed to have.

Following the Goblin’s instructions, Colin placed the Advanced Transfering Experience Bank down in the center of the circle between his feet. A soft hum of magic filled the air as the circle’s magic charge reacted to the crystal. A few seconds passed, and the crystal’s soft glow started to stream out of the crystal and leech into the magic circle beneath his feet.

Now the mana flow intensified a little, and his Mana Regeneration speed wasn’t able to keep up. His Mana slowly started to tick down at about two points a second, and the silver light in the circle began to tint green. The next bit of overkill for the ritual was the use of a small dull iron-colored shaft that only weighed 43 grams. He placed the Sansinite rod on top of the crystal, the shaft standing on one end as if with magnets.

Streams of green light coiled up from the Experience Banks Glow and flowed up through the Sansinite Rod, which promptly began to hum with the power. Drawing his Voracious Mythic Xiphos, Colin readied himself for the last, and probably the worst part, of the ritual.

Holding his left palm against the edge of his weapon, he pressed and carefully drew his hand across the edge. Speaking while he slowly moved from the base of one side of his Xiphos to the other.

“Circle beneath my feet, now inverting the flow. Crystal at its center, holding the memory. The steel of the Gods, reaching out for the power. And blood from my veins, binding it all to me. May the blood I spill bring power unto me, coming into my soul and settle there,” Colin intoned as he reached the other side of the blade.

With his blood spilled, the light glowing from the circle underneath his feet shifted from green to a kaleidoscope of colors. Shifting back and forth between various hues and tones as a prompt appeared in Colin’s vision.

You are activating a unique Ritual called ‘Neuropathic Syphon’ and have been designated as the target. Would you like to start it now?

Colin looked at his plummeting Mana and told the prompt a quick and sudden, “yes.”

The prompt vanished, leaving Colin in stunned silence for a moment as he waited for something to happen. It was almost a solid minute before a streamer of neon green light floated in through a wall and towards him. It flitted a little back and forth as if it were being pulled in two separate directions. Then more flowed in through the walls just as that first one reached and touched his chest.

You have gained 232 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon.

Then another entered him through his lower back.

You have gained 485 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 191 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 517 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 222 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon.

The points just kept rolling in as the ritual continued. It only took a minute for Colin’s head to start to throb like a headache just beginning to make its presence known. He held his head and took slow and careful breaths while he tried to follow the still streaming in prompts stating how much experience he’d absorbed. It wasn’t exact, but he was able to keep a rough count.

After another minute, a different prompt broke the monotony of the last ones. Colin held it in front of his vision even as the headache he started to experience got just the littlest bit worse.

You are suffering from the Debuff’ Brain Strain’ level 1. Brain Strain is a leveling condition that occurs when a large amount of experience is absorbed without using the properly formed channels created normally by the system.

Level 1 results in a headache that makes all forms of concentration difficult and spellcasting dangerous. All spells cast while this Debuff is in effect have a 10% chance to critically fail, and an additional 5% chance will be added per level of this Debuff.

Debuff timer will begin when the cause is cleared. Debuff duration for level 1: 20 minutes.

“Nox,” Colin said, trying to keep from speaking too loud. “How long will this last?”

The Goblin tapped his chin in thought, “at least thirty minutes or until you turn it off yourself.” Nox shrugged, “We used the piece of Sansinite in the ritual to make sure that the power wouldn’t simply just… shut it down after a few seconds,” Nox explained. “We wanted to steal experience, might as well go all out.”

“Nox, I’ve got Level 1 Brain Strain,” Colin told him. His rough experience count got over twenty-five thousand points in only two minutes.

“Don’t worry, DevilWalker!” Nox told him. “You’ll be fine until you hit level 6 of the Debuff.”

“What happens at 6?” Colin asked.

“Your brain won’t be able to hold up with the stress, and the rest of your body will suffer. Your organs will start to shut down, and blood vessels will burst due to the strain. At seven, you will pass out and will not be able to turn off the ritual, so don’t let it get that far, DevilWalker!” Nox told him. “I can help fix almost everything up until that point.”

Colin nodded, noting that he could actually feel how much worse his headache got from minute to minute.

“WHERE! ARE! YOU! THIEF!” a robotic voice yelled from the street outside the house.

Rielle hurried over to one of the Barred Adamant windows and took a careful lookout. A moment later, turned and placed her back to the wall, looking mildly panicked. “There are about ten Basic Golems out there with a Mage, two Fighters, and three Rogues.”

“Do you and Larry think you can handle them?” Colin asked. “I’m a little occupied.”

“Maybe, if he can take all the hits,” Rielle stated bluntly.

The Incubus smiled and walked forward, “Hells yeah, I’ve got that. May I go all out, Boss?” Larry asked, a gleam in his eyes that Colin hadn’t seen until this point. Maybe it had something to do with his recent Summon Familiar Level up, but Colin didn’t have time to ask.

The Brain Strain Debuff is now level 2.

Level 1 results in a headache that makes all forms of concentration difficult and spellcasting dangerous. All spells cast while this Debuff is in effect have a 10% chance to critically fail, and an additional 5% chance will be added per level of this Debuff. The chance to Critically fail is now 15%

Level 2 results in a worsening headache with temporary nerve damage due to the accumulating and absorbing experience. This results in random and sporadic twitching, shaking, and sometimes a total loss of control in muscle movement. Any action to requires the use of the Strength, Speed, or the Dexterity Attribute has a 20% chance to fail, and an additional 10% chance will be added per level of this Debuff.

Debuff timer will begin when the cause is cleared. Debuff duration for level 2: 60 minutes.

Just as the prompt stated, his hands started to shake just a little as he tried to hold this sword in his hand. He put it away before losing the ability to continue holding it and winced as he tried to focus. “Yes, just make sure Rielle stays alive. Understand!” Colin ordered.

“I got it, Master!” Larry said, firing off a salute and hurrying towards the door. He undid the HellRime that kept it stuck closed and rushed out, summoning a giant katana of some sort before covering himself in a layer of protective HellRime.

Rielle had hurried up behind Larry and paused at the door to look back at Colin, “be careful, Walker.” She said, then stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

While Colin just stood there absorbing the experience, he heard Larry yell, “Hey ALAN! Come get some of this piece of hellish Hunk!” He taunted before yelling an additional statement for good measure, “Hell Knight’s Provocation!”

Nox walked over to the window and created a stepstool out of shadows to look out the window. “I have to admit, DevilWalker. While I disagree with the Incubus part, you still got lucky with that Demon. He is rather good at fighting.”

Colin nodded, trying hard to hear past the beating drum pounding in his ears. He’d seen some of Larry’s fighting first hand and knew he’d made a wise move in his choice of summoning. “I agree. I just hope that the part you disagree with doesn’t screw us eventually.”

Nox shrugged, “It might cause issues eventually, but he’s obeying for now, and that is what’s important.”

Both fell silent as the ritual just kept chugging along. Colin noticed that the amount of experience he was getting was starting to escalate slowly. The numbers just kept going higher and higher, and the streamers of light became stings that steadily flowed into the ritual. He asked Nox about it, and the Demon shrugged, saying simply, “give me a moment.” Before stepping into a shadow.

A moment later, Nox was grinning as he looked at him. “That explains how ALAN found out about the stolen experience. DevilWalker, Congratulations, you are actually taking all the city’s experience that was slowly giving to the Golem Overmind. All those green lines that were flowing to him last night are now coming here. You must have been getting more and more as the of the experience as it was traveling here.”

You have gained 475 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 354 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 671 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 502 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon.

“Great.” Colin groaned. He knew he wasn’t hoping to get ALAN’s attention this quickly. “Should we stop and regroup somewhere else?”

“No, we’ll be fine. Rielle and Larry are holding off most of them that are coming here,” Nox stated.

“M-most?” Colin asked, just as a heavy steel fist pounded into the HellRime reinforced door. The door held, but the walls and frame around it cracked with the blow.

The Brain Strain Debuff is now level 3.

Level 1 results in a headache that makes all forms of concentration difficult and spellcasting dangerous. All spells cast while this Debuff is in effect have a 10% chance to critically fail, and an additional 5% chance will be added per level of this Debuff. The chance to Critically fail is now 20%

Level 2 results in a worsening headache with temporary nerve damage due to the accumulating and absorbing experience. This results in random and sporadic twitching, shaking, and sometimes a total loss of control in muscle movement. Any action to requires the use of the Strength, Speed, or the Dexterity Attribute has a 20% chance to fail, and an additional 10% chance will be added per level of this Debuff. Fail chance is now at 30%.

Level 3 results in synapses firing in response to the experience being streamed into your mind. You can now see and feel what some of the experience you are absorbing came from because what is experience, if not a moment of noticeable growth. Visual and auditory hallucinations may hamper your perceptions of reality.

Debuff timer will begin when the cause is cleared. Debuff duration for level 3: 120 minutes.

At least this level didn’t come with any percentage downside compared to the first two levels. Colin could deal with this; just ride out whatever he sees or hears until he hits level 4 or 5 tops. He needed the power that this would give him; with this single ritual, he might be able to move forward much faster than expected.

The Golem outside pounded the wall one more time before Colin heard Larry shout in a challenge and start attacking the Golem at the door.

“Crueshei! Get the Forging Hammers, We’ll be up all night!” a voice that happily informed his underling stated. “And it’ll be a long one too!”

Colin shook his head as he looked around the room, not finding anyone who could have said what he heard. It was weird because there was also a strong impression that Colin could not shake.

To Colin’s left, he heard a rushing of heavy boot coming towards him, and when he looked, a man in taut brown leathers and wielding a spear was rushing him. Colin moved to grab at his sword, his hand twitching hard enough at that moment to ruin his normal movement. It was too late; the man slid to a stop and thrust his spear into Colin’s chest. Only, there was no pain.

He blinked, and both weapon and man were gone, leaving Colin with a sense of dread as he could not tell the man was not real. Even knowing that there were going to be hallucinations, he could not get his mind to even consider that either instance was not real.

“Help me, Daddy!” a young girl, no older than seven, cowered in the corner, tears welling in her eyes as she stared at the corner of the room opposite of her. Colin looked and found a crumpled form just lying there, unresponsive.

As he watched, a Basic Warrior Golem faded into the scene and walked towards her, with a lever-action rifle held perfectly in its cold hands. It raised the weapon allowing Colin to see the blood smeared handprint that marked it’s left shoulder.

It aimed for a long moment before all of the scene vanished.

Colin turned to look at Nox, who was sitting under the window, looking at Colin as the battle waged outside.

“It’s not pleasant, is it, DevilWalker?” Nox asked, his voice filled with pitying understanding.

“You’ve gone through this?” Colin returned.

He nodded his head, “once, when I was still young. I found an old tomb where a tyrannical king tried to preserve his soul to one day return. His attempt failed but left me to drown in his experiences. The man was evil, DevilWalker, in a way most cannot comprehend. I lived through parts of his life, saw others, and even watched him die. Trust me when I say that this will be worth it.”

“What happened?” Colin asked, ignoring the gruesome scene behind him. It was hard not to think of the body torn limb from limb and feel the hatred that came with the scene. That was what made all of this worse. He could feel the emotions coming with the experiences as well. Colin was a killer in real-life, no doubt about that. But he was professional, detached, and avoided killing anyone uninvolved or unnecessary to the mission. He’d only killed four times in anger or hate, and those moments still haunted him.

Nox shrugged, “I got two levels from that and saved me weeks to years of training and killing. It was worth it, DevilWalker, do not mistake that.”

Colin nodded and groaned as the following prompt appeared.

The Brain Strain Debuff is now level 4.

Level 1 results in a headache that makes all forms of concentration difficult and spellcasting dangerous. All spells cast while this Debuff is in effect have a 10% chance to critically fail, and an additional 5% chance will be added per level of this Debuff. The chance to Critically fail is now 25%

Level 2 results in a worsening headache with temporary nerve damage due to the accumulating and absorbing experience. This results in random and sporadic twitching, shaking, and sometimes a total loss of control in muscle movement. Any action to requires the use of the Strength, Speed, or the Dexterity Attribute has a 20% chance to fail, and an additional 10% chance will be added per level of this Debuff. Fail chance is now at 40%.

Level 3 results in synapses firing in response to the experience being streamed into your mind. You can now see and feel what some of the experience you are absorbing came from because what is experience, if not a moment of noticeable growth. Visual and auditory hallucinations may hamper your perceptions of reality.

Level 4 results in your rapidly expanding mind increasing your blood pressure due to the process’s stress. This could lead to substantial increases in the likelihood of Aneurysms, burst blood vessels, damaged organs, and other problems. There will be a 1% chance of a problem occurring due to this ongoing ritual’s stress every minute. Problem chance will increase by 1% per level of this Debuff.

Debuff timer will begin when the cause is cleared. Debuff duration for level 4: 360 minutes.

“Oh shit,” Colin breathed, considering dropping the ritual right then. A one percent chance was pretty slight, but if luck was against him, then it could kill him pretty quick.

You have gained 723 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon. You have gained 498 EXP due to the ritual Neuropathic Siphon.

But his experience was still pouring in, and he knew he might not get another chance like this again for experience. If he leveled up, even once, it would be worth it. No matter how much, this was starting to feel like actual railroad spikes being pounded into his brain. Seconds passed, and he waited, trying his best to remain calm and just let time go on by.

He just started counting, deciding to let the simple act determine when he’d stop the ritual. The seconds turned into a countdown to 100, where he was determined to stop. He just breathed and said a number as clearly as he could, even as his whole body quaked, ached, heard, saw, and revolted against him with every count.

At one hundred, Colin practically yelled, “deactivate ritual!”

Would you like to deactivate the Ritual’ Neuropathic Syphon’ early?

The prompt appeared in his vision, and Colin barely read it before saying yes.

The light faded from all around him, and Colin looked up to see shadowy images moving around him, more like silhouettes than true memories from before. Nox was hurrying over to him; Colin could hear the padding of his feet as he rushed over and poured the contents of one bottle over Colin’s head.

Unknown splash potion has removed the hallucination side effects of Brain Strain. The Debuff, Brain Strain, still remains with the duration unchanged.

Colin looked around and watched as all the shadows around the room faded or blinked away, along with all the extra sound they provided. Leaving only Colin and Nox in the building and the sounds of Larry and Rielle outside fighting.

“Thanks; got anything for headaches?” Colin asked, smiling and wincing as he sat up and groaned at the pounding he was subjected to.

“DevilWalker, we need to go before the two outside are overwhelmed,” Nox stated. “Larrimortias is badly wounded, and Rielle has taken several attacks herself.”

Colin shook his head, “we cannot leave yet.”

Nox narrowed his eyes, “why not.”

Colin pointed to the bars of Adamant that were helping to defend the house. “Those will be useful to bring with us, along with anything else around here. We didn’t get a good look before we started the ritual,” Colin stated, fighting the urge to open his waiting prompts. Nox was right; they needed to go, but they couldn’t just leave it all behind.

“Then what would you suggest we do?” Nox asked, I’m willing to give basic potion help to you because they are easy to make for me, but helping them would cost you,” he stated.

“What will it take?” Colin asked, not finding a safe way to do what he wanted. The ritual was over, so hopefully, the Golems would leave them alone soon. It was an optimistic thought, but optimism never hurt as long as one prepared in case it didn’t work out.

“What are you hoping for?” Nox asked plainly.

“Either get us all the stuff so we can run or help us with the Golems so we can get the stuff,” Colin told him. “Whichever would be cheaper.”

Pondering the statement for a moment, the Goblin nodded, and the shadows in the room extended. The entire room seemed to vibrate and creak with Nox exerting his power like this, the shadows affecting the whole space.

Grates pulled free from the window frames, bolts, metal bars from inside the walls came loose with a crash of splintering wood. It appeared that the Krimson Spire Guild wasn’t stupid, spreading out the reinforcement further into the walls to make it more durable and harder to just pull loose. Colin watched as it was repeated with each window insight and even beyond sight. Each sound hurting his head.

He watched as other things from inside the house floated to them with barely perceptible arms of shadow holding each object and bringing them towards Nox’s shadow. Each item slid into the deep space, and Colin just kept his eyes squinted and hands over his ears to minimize the pain she was feeling.

“Alright, DevilWalker. All done,” Nox said. “Everything of value has been ransacked, now you owe me one thing and one thing only,” the Goblin said. Raising a finger, he pointed it at Colin’s chest, “I want one measure of distilled evil. Something that I believe I can get from you later.”

Colin nodded, “Okay. Is Larry still alive?”

Nox nodded without looking.

“Then tell him to get over here and carry me back, please. I can’t yell or run right n-now,” Colin said, stumbling over his words. “Tell Rielle to hurry back to the H-Hotel, and we’ll meet you there.”

Nox nodded, muttering before slipping into his own shadow, “don’t worry, she’ll meet you there.”

The weary and pain-wracked Antagonist stared out the window as the sun was starting to go down. He barely noticed as Larry jumped into the window and picked him up and onto his shoulder.

For some reason, Colin decided to see how much experience he’d gotten while Larry jumped out of the house. The Demon held no regard for Colin’s comfort as he sprinted, just their lives as he raced down the streets and back towards the center of town. When Colin finally managed to focus his will enough to see what resulted from the ritual, he almost passed out from shock.

The Ritual 'Neuropathic Syphon' has been ended early by the target. Total time spent with ritual started:18 minutes and 31 seconds. Total Experience points absorbed and not applied: 691,481 experience. Note: Experience must be added in 24 hours to avoid damage to the holder’s brain. Would you like to use them now?