The ground shuddered as the tower was rocked with another explosion, sending a spray of stones down on the courtyard. One landed only a couple feet from Sauvage.

Gunnar’s body screamed with pain as Rorak and Kid Killer dragged him further away from the infernal tower. They lay him back down at the edge of the outer fence, and all three gathered around him.

Furious pangs continued to wrack his whole body, but he managed to access his Inventory. With trembling hands, he downed two Health potions, getting him back up to 80%. His mind cleared a little, but his body still ached from the effects of the burns, and almost immediately, his Health began to deplete again.

Realizing the only way he was going to survive was through healing the wounds themselves, he downed both his Mana potions, raising his supply to 60% and set to work.

Focusing on the skin of his face and skull first, he cast Basic Word of Healing once more, and concentrated the Mana streams from his Soul into his head. An immediate cooling sensation rushed over his skull, as though he’d just been lathered in aloe. He drained his Mana once again.

[You have healed severe damage, diminishing the Third Degree Burn effect. Health will now deplete at a rate of 1 per second until your wounds are fully healed.]

“Damn it,” Gunnar muttered as he watched his Mana replenish at half the rate as his depleting Health.

“Here,” Rorak said, handing Gunnar a blue vial.

“Mine too,” said Sauvage.

They both glanced at Kid Killer. “Hey, I actually use magic too, and he oughta be fine with two—er, right?”

Gunnar chuckled softly, an act that sent pangs shooting up through his extremities. “Well, let’s hope so.”

He downed the potions and set to work once more on healing his burns. It was complicated work, repairing multiple layers of skin, and attempting to restore himself in a way that left no scars. He emptied his Soul of Mana again. His Health stalled out at 65%, but a very welcome notification appeared.

[You have healed severe damage, ending the Third Degree Burn effect.]

Gunnar groaned as he sat up, his whole body still aching.

“Pardon,” Sauvage said. “But you still look a bit like shit.”

“A bit, huh?”

“You’ve got patches of raw skin all over your face,” Rorak said.

“Kinda looks like you got the Red Runs on a different set of cheeks,” Kid Killer said.

They all burst out laughing.

“Better than can be said for them,” Gunnar said, gesturing at the massive fiery torch that had once been Guard Tower Five.

More notifications filled Gunnar’s vision.

[Congratulations! You have completed the quest, Chaos Theory (Phase Two)! You successfully defended Guard Tower Five. Decimated is more like it. Here’s 90 XP!]

[Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 14 in Dragon’s Breath. You’ve reached Level 17 in Wall Climbing. You’ve reached Level 18 in Throwing Blade. You’ve reached Level 12 in Stealth Attack. You’ve reached Level 12 in Basic Word of Healing.]

[You over-estimated your own power and got burned to the brink of death while completing that quest. You’ve earned the I Have the High Ground badge! Good thing you can heal, cause there’s no handy life support body armor here: +1 to Strength, +1 to Constitution, +1 to Dexterity, +1 to Wisdom.]

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 21 in Glory!]

Nymoria appeared and recited her spiel, and when she withdrew her hand, he had another attribute point to distribute.

“All of you only get 90 XP for that?” Gunnar asked.

They nodded. “Guess since it was just another phase of the same quest.”

“You’re just sore cuz you made that harder than it needed to be.” Azmar landed with a whoosh beside him. This time, no one jumped.

Gunnar huffed. “I’m sore because my body nearly got burnt to a damn crisp.”

“Like I said,” said Azmar with a shrug.

“Hey, how come there’s no Phase Three quest yet?” Kid Killer asked.

Gunnar shook his head. “I dunno. There’s a lot of moving pieces going on, and part of that involves what’s going on down here in the water front.”

The sails of Black Heart’s ships were out of sight now, and Gunnar could hear the distant rumble of cannon fire echoing from across the waterfront.

“I would expect this is all to weaken the guard around the palace,” Sauvage said.

“Sounds like Black Heart’s blowing up the whole city!” said Gunnar.

“Could you see it?” Kid Killer asked Azmar excitedly.

The creature grinned and nodded. “Oh yeah, the trading fleets are getting lit up real good right now!”

“Every Red Cloak in the city must be heading down this way,” Rorak said.

The tower was being completely consumed now. Gunnar wasn’t sure to what extent stone might burn, but he was worried the tower might topple if they didn’t attract more guards first. They needed to get out of there.

“Speaking of which,” Gunnar said, “we are just begging to get shot if we wait around this signal fire much longer. Let’s get someplace safe to wait until we get another quest alert.”

***

Someplace safe was another rooftop near the edge of the waterfront, which Azmar scouted out beforehand.

At least the damn creature’s making himself useful, Gunnar thought as he reached the top of the ladder of a three story housing complex.

They looked out over the once shimmering city. Now, smoke hung over the rooftops, and flames were scattered across the entire waterfront. Now that his Mana pool had replenished again, Gunnar finished up the work of healing his burn wounds, concentrating hard to ensure there was no scarring.

“How do I look?” he asked, turning to Rorak.

“Still ugly,” Azmar said.

“I wasn’t asking you.”

“Did you know that your appearance is based on the original product, just like your affinities?”

“No, and I don’t care,” Gunnar said.

“That means you must be just as ugly IRL. Maybe even uglier.”

“Rorak?” Gunnar asked.

The goblin shrugged. “Your burns are gone.”

“What? Don’t care to disagree with Azmar about anything else?”

“About what?” Rorak asked with confusion.

Kid Killer and Sauvage snickered, and Azmar grinned a snaggle-tooth grin.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who sees it.”

“Azmar, why don’t you go check the skies,” Gunnar muttered.

“For what?”

“Whatever’s up there. Just keep an eye out.”

The dark creature glowered, but he took flight from the roof.

“What do you think is happening right now?” Rorak asked, gazing out at the chaos. The night thundered with cannon fire in the distance.

“Bet it’s lots of killing,” Kid Killer muttered disappointedly.

“Probably right,” Gunnar said. “Other teams oughta be making their hits with all this shit going on.”

“Wonder what Phase Three will entail,” Sauvage said.

Gunnar shrugged. “If it’s after the kills, I reckon it’ll be helping everyone get the hell out of here.”

“God, I wish we’d have been one of the hit squads,” Kid Killer moaned.

As they all sat in the mundane silence, the first mission update appeared.

[Operation Chaos Theory — The sixth target, General Thurston Seamore, has been eliminated!]

They all glanced at one another.

Then seconds later there was another.

[Operation Chaos Theory — The fifth target, High Lord Michal Federo, has been eliminated!]

Kid Killer shook his head. “Just rubbing it in! All that killing…”

Gunnar wondered which of these targets belonged to Em’s crew. He doubted it was the governor, but considering the quality of her Nighthawks, he doubted she was part of the waterfront diversions. He wasn’t necessarily aching for violence the way Kid Killer was, but sitting up here while the assassins were working was not exactly what he wanted either.

Another notification appeared.

[Operation Chaos Theory — The primary target, Rupert Mousseau, Imperial Governor of Thailen, has been eliminated!]

A clamor rose up near the palace, and the frantic clanging of warning bells filled the night.

All members of the Beta Squad glanced at one another with confusion and worry on their faces.

“Was… it supposed to happen in that order?” Rorak asked.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” said Gunnar.

“Just seemed like they were going down in sequence or something.”

“That was my impression too,” said Sauvage.

“Look, I’m sure it’s—”

A message interrupted him.

Niall: Have you heard from Em?

Gunnar: No, what’s wrong?

Niall: Shit! Okay. We need back up. I’m sending coordinates.

Gunnar: What’s going on? What happened to Em?

Niall: Just follow the coordinates.

Gunnar: What’s going on? Did the governor get killed too quickly?

Niall: The governor was right on schedule. The problem is we’ve missed three of the other marks.

Gunnar: Em missed hers?

Niall: No, she got the first. But now, I can’t get ahold of her. I need your help now.

Gunnar: On our way.

The coordinates came in, and the Beta Squad sprinted toward the palace.