Nico rested against a tree, its cool balk relaxing his sore back as the Locust cooled down. He had his sight towards the sky. The sun’s gorgeous yellow had dimmed down to a heavy, orange light. He had an hour or two before it set.

Most Tengu squads traversed the tree line, completely abandoning the ground that Nico stalked. That made them harder to fight and even harder to escape, but much easier to spot.

It felt nice to be respected as much as they respected the Riders—it took losing two dozen squads, but hey, better late than never.

Nico pulled his arms back and tossed a Kinetic Shell straight above him. It exploded when it struck a branch, causing some to snap and others to sway out of the way of the swinging Tengus.

One fell to the ground. By the time it got its balance Nico was in striking distance. He didn’t slow down his charge, he stopped doing that a while ago, but he did fall into a crouch. Its right dagger swung above his head. Like a spring, he pushed off with both feet, head-butting its tall nose into a normal sized one. He stabbed it in its stomach and lifted it off its feet.

He took it running with him, the dull dagger going in and out of its body until it breathed its last. He Siphoned it, leaving a pale yellow mist behind him.

The rest of its squad noticed and followed him as they Howled. Nico tossed a Kinetic Shell below him and jumped, letting it launch him a good 6 meters in the air, just below the branch line. He flew for a few glorious seconds. The lukewarm air turned cool as it parted before him.

During the time he flew, he made and tossed a Howl shell as far away as he could to his side. It struck the ground, creating a Howl.

He rolled when he reached the ground, saving his knees from snapping for the sixth time. It took some practice, especially with the Locust’s odd distribution of weight. The more he used it, though, the more flexible it became.

Nico suspected that the Locust being unresponsive wasn’t on it—it was on him. Not having an arm for a while must have decayed his nerves. That was good, because it meant he only needed more practice, and eventually he might even use to it punch and parry. There had to be a powerful fighting style that only someone like the Locust wielder can use, Nico was sure of it. He put his life on it.

When he was sure he was out of sight, he fell against one of the trees and waited.

Again. He tossed the shell up. A Tengu fell. He killed it, Siphoned it, then got back to running, a Kinetic Shell already popping into his palm. He flicked one below him and took off at a different angle, tossing a Howl shell. He was making a false pattern parallel to his. While the Tengus followed it, he cut them off before they grouped up on the location.

Nico was hesitant at replacing the frag shell at first, but the more he fought, the more he realized that Energy was too precious to waste on frag shells. More importantly, it wasn’t a good long-term plan. Assuming I am in it for the long-term. There was still a decent chance the Nightmare was going to kill him for the Locust, but that wasn’t something he could prevent. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, then he would be prepared.

It was calming how everything went according to plan. His hunting no longer made is limbs jittery with excitement and fear. He fought when he wanted, he ran when he wanted, and he hid when he wanted. The Tengu’s could only scramble from one place to the other, searching fruitlessly. If they didn’t, then he found them.

A familiar roar rung nearby. That was the signal to stop and take a breather. It was the only unknown variable in all of this—the Boss. For some reason, even after all the trouble Nico caused, it wasn’t actively hunting him. It and a good bunch of squads seemed to be fighting something else.

If they’re that brazen about fighting a whole tribe, then it’s probably a House. It didn’t make sense for the Nightmare to be the one to cause the mess. It wasn’t night yet.

Nico moved in the opposite direction, hoping to get away from both. After replacing his Frag with the Howl any chance at killing a Boss was gone. He only had a dagger and a heavy, slow-moving punch for his offensive capabilities. It worked against the Tengus, but he doubted it was going to work against anything else.

Nico felt something hiding behind the trees ahead. Just one. That made him dig his feet into the ground and pull a hard full-right to find another enemy waiting for him.

Shink (I)

Class: Enhancer-Transmuter

Soul-Bound Equipment: 0/1

Shields: **

1st skill: Resistant Life Shield (Uncommon II)

Consumes 1 Energy to gain 1 Shield with minor resistance to slash, pierce, and thermal damage. Cast-time: 3 seconds

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Enhancer Perk: The last Shield has double the resistance.

Transmuter Perk: Reduces your Shields by 50% to reduce your cooldown by 50%.

An old man in a slick trench black coat stepped out. He walked towards Nico, a two-handed axe leaving a line in the mud. His eyes were narrowed and completely tucked away under thick furrowed brows. Mud, dirt, and blood covered his boots.

“We just want to talk,” he said.

“Do you ambush everyone you want to talk with?” Nico asked, walking towards him.

“Only the ones that trespass,” he said.

The other one stepped out as well. He was skinny, with biceps thinner than his forearms. He wore the same clothes as Shink. He duel wielded hand axes. “Please do run,” he said waving them at Nico.

Khan (I)

Class: Enhancer-Transmuter

Soul-Bound Equipment: 0/1

Shields: **

1st Skill: Recovering Shields (Rare I)

Consumes 1 Energy to gain 2 Shield.

Cast-time: 3 seconds

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 1 minute

Enhancer Perk: Grants 20% increased Physique if you’re at MAX shields.

Transmuter Perk: Recovers 1 Shield every 30 seconds.

“Do not and you’ll stay in one piece,” Shink said. “Who are you?”

“I’m lost,” Nico said. He kept walking. There was no benefit to hunting humans, especially Nico. Quite obviously he didn’t have anything on him but a dull dagger…and a very precious green looking arm.

“Hi Lost, I’m Shink. The Iron House has this area reserved and the next for hunting, bud,” Khan said. “I don’t know how you got here first, but hand over all the Energy you stole from us …uh, dude, where are you carrying your crystals?”

Nico stopped. Fuck. Out of every House, it had to be them. He had to tread carefully here. “I’m not, I was just practicing. I was not aware—”

“The Undying,” the old man said, stopping as recognition dawned on his face.

Fucking hell. This is why masks were useful.

“The Undying?” Khan said. “Holy shit, man I’m like your biggest fan. I saw the fight live. The way you made that whinny bitch swallow—”

“You dumbass! He’s going for Ron now.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Nico said.

“Rumor has it that we burned his brother,” Shink said. “Now the little dude is back with a new arm and a vengeance.”

“I’m not,” Nico said. “Just a complete coincidence that I’m here.” While not a good explanation, it was better than telling them he was put into a cannon and fired out of the city.

“Crap, so we’re fighting him? Actually, I always wanted to—"

“Capture him,” Shink said, breaking into a sprint. “He must be working with the Nightmare.”

Nico ditched the names they were given and thought of them as Grumpy and Creepy.

Nico kept his fists down as he slowly sped up towards Grumpy. They must have seen me jumping. If they laid an ambush for him then they probably also saw his shells. They think I’m a Kinetic Transmuter. Nico hoped that was the case. He made a Kinetic Shell. As soon as it came out he leaped forward and smashed it in front of him.

Grumpy swung his axe in a diagonal from the bottom left to the right. To his surprise, Nico simply ducked his head, letting it glide above him. The shell struck the ground before the 0.5 ignition period. Grumpy spun with the swing of his axe, doing a 360, and coming back with the axe aimed at hip level.

Nico went prone as the Kinetic Shell touched the ground a second time. It exploded, sending Grumpy flying. He flayed his arm, yelling as he spun in the air while his axe spun in a different one. He struck the ground with his back and rolled to a stop with his face.

Creepy and Nico shared a short chuckle before they both sped up.

Nico tossed another Kinetic Shell below his feet. He flew gracefully through the air, and fell gracefully too when something clipped his back. He hit the ground with a broken spine.

“You fucker!” Grumpy yelled. “We’re going to have to waste a healing potion on him now.”

“He ran! You said we would—”

“I lied you imbecile! We needed information on the Nightmare!”

“Better than him escaping—”

“Jull is ahead you—"

Nico heard laughter, curses, and sounds of triumph. It cut short when Nico got to his feet and kept running, the axe that had cut his spine in half in hand. The head of the axe had a flat back and a long blade embellished with symbols of spiders. The beautiful design was wrapped around the handle as well.

“Thank you!” Nico yelled, waving his new axe in the air. That’ll teach Mr. Creepy to toss his weapons away. Nico looked behind to see him pumping his arms furiously with clenched teeth and red bulging eyes. He’s faster than a typical Rank III. Both had Life Shield and Life Empowerment, the most common build for Hunters.

Nico made a kinetic shell. He moved his axe from his hand to his teeth, moved the kinetic shell to his palm, then made another Kinetic shell inside the Locust. He tossed the first kinetic shell below him. He kept an eye behind him as he flew.

Creepy threw his axe again. It was a good throw. It would have hit Nico, if Nico was an idiot. Don’t repeat the same mistake twice. He tossed his shell behind him and kicked it with both feet as he straightened his back. Midair a strong gust launched him another ten meters, letting the axe harmlessly swing below him.

Nico spat out the axe, catching it with the Locust. Mid-run he fetched the other axe from the ground with his hand. “Thank you again!” Nico yelled. It was pretty much identical. Idiot, tossing away his weapons.

Fortunately, their teamwork was terrible. Another man with a noticeably large spear tried to flank Nico from the right side at the same time Creepy tossed his axe. His spear was comically larger than him, maybe even twice his height, at around 10 feet tall. He wore only shorts, leaving his bare, muscular chest for all to see.

Jull (II)

Class: Enhancer-Transmuter

Shields: **

Soul-Bound Equipment: 0/2

1st Skill: Resistant Life Shield (Common II)

Consumes 1 Energy to gain 4 Shield.

Cast-time: 3 seconds

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 45 seconds

Enhancer Perk: Your Shields has minor damage resistance.

Transmuter Perk: Cooldown is reduced by 25%

2nd Skill: Extreme Life Empowerment (Uncommon II)

Consumes 1 Energy to increase Physique by 20% for 2 seconds.

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Enhancer Perk: Increases Physique by a further 10% at the cost of reducing the duration by 1 second.

Transmuter Perk: Increase the duration by 1 second.

The other one was probably on my left side, back there. That accounted for four. The fifth must have been up in the trees. That was the standard format, at least.

Nico kept glancing behind him, to his side, forward, and upward, as the Tengu’s begun Howling around him. They swung through the trees with a dagger in their teeth. He was running right where he had tossed his Howl shells.

What do I do now? He expected to find monsters, but how was he supposed to account for the Iron House coming for him? So he wasn’t thrown here for the healing skill, but to get in a fight with them? I don’t know, I just don’t. Being in control for a few hours was invigorating, but now he was back to being a pawn in a game he didn’t even know existed. Who were even the sides?