Mike carried Srinivas and Jess with his corona while Joe accompanied them under his own power. He brought them onto the casino's roof a good distance from where Nallit stood with four other people. He recognized one of the figures as belonging to the preacher from the press conference. The three others . . . .

"Shit," Joe said.

"Shit," Mike agreed.

"They're kids," Jess exclaimed.

"Child soldiers can kill you the same as adult ones," Mike said. He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt in that statement. He estimated the two girls and boy at early teens. Old enough that from a distant glance you might assume them to be adult. Not old enough to fool anyone who glanced twice.

"I am not thinking I can be killing children."

"It's kill or be killed, Srinivas."

Nallit walked towards them and his crew stumbled along behind him, resisting the kinetic pull. "Hey guys, feels like I just saw you. What's your lineup, Mike?"

Mike pointed at his three team members in turn: Joe, Jess, Srinivas. "One, two, and three."

"My ordering is one of the girls, then the boy, then the other girl," Nallit said. "That seems like the way to maximize the psychological trauma."

Mike's eyes narrowed. "You said the order would be determined before . . . ."

"Give it a rest already, Mike. Your people are going to win. My three little sacrifices aren't ignited, aren't trained, and are fucking terrified out of their minds. I just thought it would be amusing to open up a can of PTSD."

The smirk directed his way caused something to snap inside Mike. He lashed out with his corona, targeting the demon before him. Nallit suppressed him, but Mike was ready for that. He faked clockwise, then spiraled up-wise and counter-clockwise before diving down to swipe at Nallit's brain. His maneuver succeeded until the last moment, when he could not displace the corona of his opponent in the slightest. Instead, Nallit seized ahold of his talent and froze it in place.

"Nice try, Mike, but you're not strong enough to pull that trick on me without help. Let's just hang out while our number ones fight to the death."

Mike struggled against the grip on his corona, yet was unable to move in the slightest. Before him, Joe stepped out and an uncertain blonde girl tripped to fall before him. She began begging for her life as Joe stood above her. Nallit snorted. "If she ain't dead in five minutes, I throw a skyscraper."

The horror on Joe's face grew as he stared at the child before him. He looked to Mike as if for permission. Mike swallowed and nodded. The girl's pleas cut off as she collapsed. Joe turned on his heel and marched to the edge of the roof, where he lowered himself to sit staring out at the river. His face lowered into his hands and his shoulders began to rock.

"Oh, that dude is broken," Nallit whispered to Mike. "How do you think he's going to deal with it? Alcohol? Rage? Giving up completely?"

In response, Mike pushed harder with his corona. He couldn't move down-wise, up-wise, or side-wise as Nallit had folded his corona around Mike's like a burrito. He could move a little in traditional three-dimensional space, but to do more than wiggle he would need to move further away from the demon, which he couldn't do at the moment. Fists clenched, Mike pushed and pulled for all he was worth in every dimension possible.

"Next! Number twos!"

As Jess stomped forward, the boy she faced turned and ran. She paused and looked to Nallit.

"Oh, sweetheart, I ain't gonna do your dirty work for you. Chase him down and murder him. You've got five minutes. Yadda yadda yadda, lots of people die if you don't do what I want."

Jess ran off while Nallit continued to prattle, a stream of inane chatter mixed with cheerful obscenities. The impotent rage within Mike grew more desperate with every moment, until he felt his mind warping into a state he couldn't be sure was quite sane, almost a berserker frenzy. He dug tips formed by his corona into cracks, forcing tiny openings into the obstructions between him and his goal. Little by little, he wormed his way deeper, cutting angles every time he found himself blocked, weaseling further forward with every moment.

Jess returned dragging the boy's body. She laid it to rest face up, straightened its arms and legs, closed its eyes, and went to stand beside Srinivas. She whispered words of exhortation into his ear as he stood in stoic silence. Nallit snapped his fingers. "Last but not least, we have our threes. The Indian fella has to murder a girl. Because I'm feeling . . . let's say generous . . . the punishment for refusing to murder her is that you lose your life, Indian man. I won't punish the EDA or the city any further. It's you or the little girl."

"Srinivas," Jess snapped. "Don't even think about it. We need you. I need you."

"I am not killing a child, Jess."

"You've got five minutes," Nallit said. "It's you or the girl. Either way, there is going to be. So. Much. PTSD."

Mike struggled with every ounce of strength he had, forcing tendrils deeper like the deepest roots of a tree. Groping. Reaching. Borrowing . . . until they finally breached whatever barrier held them back.

A kaleidoscope of sensations assaulted him, an immense fractal constantly transforming itself in strange loops. Mike's vasted mind sucked up those unknowable patterns like a sponge, instantly absorbing them and displacing his normal mode of thought. Soon, his mind collapsed back to normal. Normal normal. As he hadn't been for an entire month, before he ignited and became a full paragon.

Mike shook off the insane mental state he had entered as if coming back awake. He saw Srinivas with arms folded, determined to sacrifice his life for a child he had never met. Saw Jess, begging him to go through with the grisly task. Saw Joe broken, crying on the edge of a rooftop. And Nallit . . . Nallit loving every moment of it. Mike could sense that his mind remained vasted, but it was preoccupied processing things his conscious mind could not comprehend. He had effectively lost the immense mental reserves the noetic talent afforded him. His fine control of his corona was pretty much nonexistent at the moment. Hopefully not permanently.

He still had some rough control, though. And his corona had wormed its way into something. Might as well give a push and see what happened.

Nallit's malignant grin vanished. The demon stared at Mike with rising panic. "What the fuck are you doing!" Mike found his corona released as Nallit lifted into the sky. The demon pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You push me Outside and this whole universe folds up! The whole fucking universe, Mike! You want to be the cause of that?"

"I want you out of here," Mike growled.

Nallit's eyes narrowed. "Then someone needs to finish the game. It's the girl or the guy."

Mike swept his corona out in a harsh movement, still missing the fine control he was used to. The girl collapsed into a blood heap. "There. Your damn game is over."

"Careful, Mike, if you get me in a mood I just might start throwing rocks."

"Get me in a mood and I'll end this universe," Mike growled.

The demon stared at him a moment, expressionless. Then he nodded. If Mike hadn't known better, he might have said the gesture seemed respectful. "I'm bored of this place. Convince the Angelship to move on within a month and I'll follow it without any more shenanigans."