What do you mean expecting us?

Rolfe froze for a second, looking back at us with a look of disbelief on his face. You can’t possibly think he doesn’t know you’re coming? I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason Dabia still stands.

Kalli looked sideways at me, a frown on her face. What do you want to do?

What could I do? It wasn’t like we would gain anything by running. He would just kill more people until he got his hands on me. Part of me questioned why I wanted to save the planet in the first place. Then I thought of my mother. What would she do? She always told me to live my best life. What life would that be if I spent it running away? Then there was Kalli. This was her planet, her home. We needed to save her parents. I took a deep breath and came to a decision.

I’m going to distract him. It’s me he’s after. Find an opening and take him out.

Kalli tugged my shirt sleeve as I approached the wall with the latch, an urgent thought pressing against my mind. Don’t do anything stupid.

I turned and gave her the most confident grin I could muster.

Hey! It’s me we’re talking about.

She rolled her eyes and forced herself to breathe. That’s why I’m worried.

Trying not to make Kalli’s fear come true, I fed some mana into the artifact wrapped around my forearm, and soon a suit of armor coated my body. The door mechanism made a clicking sound that felt like it echoed loudly through the hall when the door to the passage slid open. I waited with bated breath for any sign of movement. If anybody heard the sound, they were doing a pretty good job of pretending they didn’t.

Slowly, I tiptoed through the shadows, craning my neck for a sign of Rasputin or the throne. Rolfe instructed me through group chat as I went. Take two more lefts and the throne is straight ahead. Keep the plants between you and the throne and he shouldn’t be able to see you.

I held my breath as I walked. It wasn’t that I thought it would do any good. Every time I took a breath, I remembered Maya gasping as Rasputin’s mana slowly devoured her core.

It was shortly after I began creeping through the room that I sensed Kalli slip in behind me. She pressed herself to the wall and went in the opposite direction around the other side of the room. I wanted to tell her to go back where it was safe but I also knew she wouldn’t listen.

Just a little bit farther.

I spoke more to myself than anyone else as I slid past another of the many decorative plants that lined the room in large antique vases. Through the leaves, I made out someone on the throne. It could be Rasputin. The most I could make out was the silver, black hair, and the whispy beard. Could there be two people with those features?

About halfway to the throne, I made out voices. Rasputin was talking…but to who? I stopped to listen and see if I could figure out who else was with him.

“…another day. It will be satisfying-”

Then I realized, he was talking to himself. Rasputin was alone in the throne room. Some part of me realized what I needed to do, while another part screamed I was committing suicide. Kalli was quiet for once as I readied myself and stepped out into the open.

Rasputin looked up, starting to rise to his feet. “It’s about time you-“

I don’t know where it came from, nerves probably, but I laughed.

DELETE

Rasputin fell to the floor as the throne vanished beneath him. High above was a chandelier with thousands of crystal shards dangling from it. I focused on one of the low-hanging ones and edited it into a one-thousand-ton boulder. It snapped off the chandelier with a satisfying pop and plummeted to where Rasputin was struggling to get up.

The boulder kicked up a massive cloud of dust as it slammed into the ground right where Rasputin had been. I was still waiting for the dust to clear when flashes of light went off all around me accompanied by the loud cracking of gunfire. The rest of the group had managed to get in position at various places around the throne room and opened fire with a combination of PINGs and guns.

The rubble from the boulder went through a variety of transformations as multiple PING blasts struck. From the looks of things, all the PINGs had been set to animacation. Flashing rocks and what looked like ACME fireworks shot off in every direction, the dull thuds of the bullets more of an afterthought than anything else.

The shooting stopped and we waited in silence for the chaos to die down.

“Kekekekeke,” shrewd laughter echoed from the back of the room. “You are much more impressive this time around. Finally, a worthy opponent. Now, show me, do you know how to wield that manipulator class of yours?”

I spun on him as he approached me, forming mana in my left hand to make a sword. “I know how your attack works. It’s not going to work on me.”

“Is that so?” he asked with a cackle, moving faster than I thought the old man was capable of.

I held the sword out in front of me while altering one of the plants next to Rasputin.

Item:

Man-Eating Plant (Edited)

Components

Plant, Bloodlust

Item Rank:

B

Item Level:

1

Item Owner:

Rasputin

Apparently, Rasputin claimed everything in the kingdom when he killed King Thomas. Fortunately, my new man-eating plant worked as advertised and lunged for Rasputin the moment he passed it. He stopped laughing when he was forced to leap to the side as my creation snapped at his arm.

The action caused the rest of the group to come back to life and shots rang out once more. Rasputin vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the shots to scorch the ground where he had just been.

“What else can you do, boy?” His voice echoed in the distance. I had no clue where he was. “Make this fun for me. It’s been so long since I’ve had proper entertainment.”

“Why are you doing this?” Kalli shouted from up above.

“Because I can, little girl,” Rasputin replied. “Don’t you know we’re gods?”

I marched over to the wreckage that was the throne, knowing he had to approach if he wanted to use his skill on me. The artifact armor made me feel confident that I’d be able to withstand anything he threw my way.

The problem was, Rasputin never came. An agonized scream told me exactly what he was up to. He was picking off Zofia’s men. Specifically, the ones with the guns. Standing by the throne only ensured one thing…he was going to save me for last.

It was then that I regretted allowing the TGB to leave group chat. I had no clue who was down, who was alive, or where they were. The only thing I knew was that Zofia was hidden somewhere up near Kalli and frightened yet determined. She wasn’t saying anything in group chat but she was speaking rapidly through her comm system.

Going through my options, I realized there was one thing I wanted to do. I needed to get to Kalli. If Rasputin was going to pick everyone off before dealing with me, that meant he was going to go after her at some point.

Wrapping mana around myself, I appeared at her side. She hunched over a balcony upstairs along with Gulliver, Zofia, and one of the TGB mercenaries.

Kalli pointed over the edge at Rasputin who was standing over the body of one of Zofia’s men. I wasn’t sure how many of her men were left, but if they were alive, none of them were moving to attack again.

“Four down,” Rasputin taunted, looking up as though he knew exactly where I was.

Zofia let out a growl and threw something over the edge. I expected an explosion but it bounced across the floor a few times before emitting an ear-splitting siren. Instinctively, I covered my ears as I looked over the balcony again. Rasputin was gone, teleported away once again.

The sound of the device was overwhelming and I almost didn’t hear it but someone screamed downstairs as Rasputin found another victim.

There! Kalli’s thoughts screamed in my head, pointing toward the back of the throne room.

Rasputin towered over his victim, his bony hand clutching at the twitching man’s throat. I noticed the man had a grenade on his vest so I targeted the pin.

DELETE

Somehow, Rasputin knew what I was up to and vanished again a moment before the grenade blew up. This time, he reappeared right in front of me, his attention distracted by the explosion.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I swung the sword at Rasputin’s head. He deflected it with an arm, the blade sheering off a chunk of flesh as it raked across his skin. Kalli ducked behind a pillar out of sight in the confusion. I tried to draw the blade back but it was stuck on something.

I looked down to see Rasputin gripping it between two fingers. A twisted smile marred his face. “A mana blade? How tasty.”

The blade in my hand began to warp as Rasputin did something to it. I only felt the danger at the last moment when I realized Rasputin was pumping mana of his own into my weapon, attempting to gain access to me through my summon. I immediately released the weapon and it vanished causing him to stagger back.

Rasputin tutted at me and reached for my arm. I looked down at him in horror as his fingers closed over the black metal of the artifact armor. Should I give myself to the armor again? Let it fight for me?

His mana washed over the artifact, seeking purchase in the chinks in the armor. Then a familiar spell came from behind him.

“Pvruzth”

Kalli screamed the word and green flame slammed into Rasputin’s back. He howled in agony and vanished again. I looked down at my hand, realizing his mana had found a way to get through the armor. I wasn’t as impervious to his attack as I’d thought. Kalli noticed as well, rushing over to check on me. We should run away.

By that time, Zofia and her remaining men were once again shooting desperately at Rasputin. He was good at dodging the bullets and somehow had managed not to be turned into a cartoon yet. Whether that was because he figured it out or if was just good at dodging was beyond me.

I snuck back to the stairs and made my way down to the throne room.

We have to get him today. If we let him go, there’s no telling how many people he will kill.

I felt Kalli sneaking after me as prepared to face off with the man. The mana blade was out of commission so my remaining options included my ranged light magic and the PING. There was also the emotional mana but that was only if we made contact. Then there was the armor but I feared what it would do if I let it take control.

There was another option of course. A simple way to deal with any foe. All I had to do was push mana through my ring and Rasputin would be trapped in there. Even if Mardella was released, she would be weak and disoriented, which would make her easy to kill with a gun.

Seeming to read my thoughts, Rasputin stepped out from where he was hiding. “Well, boy? Are you ready to go a round with the champ?”