My pursuer was having trouble navigating. Pre-headless status, I would have placed him in the annoyingly “crafty” brute camp, high on the shortlist of foes I generally prioritized avoiding direct conflict with. Post-headless, he ran full tilt and barreled into and or over anything in his way. Considering his ample mass and speed potential he still wasn’t a joke. If I panicked, or got stupid enough to run in a straight, unobstructed line long enough for him to get his massive hands on me, that would probably be the end of it.

But my ability to panic was more or less a dead nerve. It’d been beaten out of me, time and time again, diminishing with every instance I was forced to take something ridiculous in stride.

It still happened—typically when someone I cared about was under threat. If Iris was still in danger, I wouldn’t have been nearly as clear-headed.

But I trusted Sae. And I was pretty sure Headless was the reason for Max’s disturbingly low evaluation. Now that he was fixated on me, Sae could take her time getting my sister to safety, using Max’s ability to make sure the way ahead was safe.

“GUURAAAAAAAW”

Here he comes.

I slowed and pressed my back to the passenger side of an over-sized gas-guzzling SUV, parked on the side of the street, facing down the overgrown monster speeding towards me. Despite the juddering gait and awkwardness of his ruined legs, he was still unbelievably fast.

At the last second, with perception screaming for me to move, Audrey’s vines shot from my sleeve, anchoring on a distant light pole and launching me out of the way.

Every pound of Headless’s considerable bulk slammed into the sedan, shattering windows and crumpling the frame, pushing it up on two wheels. The trunk and engine block were bent inward, leaving him thrashing and half-stuck.

“So close.” I called behind me, feeling grim satisfaction when the mockery was met with an angry roar.

I kept running, making as much distance as I could before Headless could free himself. The first five minutes had been deceptively easy, effectively playing matador with a blind bull. But slowly—almost too gradually to notice—my pursuer had been growing more coordinated. He was either regenerating faster than I could hurt him, or getting better at wringing efficiency from his injured state.

Neither was good for me.

At this rate he’ll run me down before we get to the reservoir. Need to keep him on the back foot.

It’d be easy to ditch him if I wanted to. I could toss the head, but that meant taking the risk he’d revert to previous orders. Or, I could zigzag across the region until he lost me. But he could just follow the head and find me again. So it was a question of keeping his attention, maintaining enough distance that I could lead him to the reservoir, and buying time for my purchase to arrive.

A small cluster of monsters raced towards me from the opposite side. Goblinoids with long ears and wings too short to function. Cutting them down would take too long, so I didn’t bother. Instead, I cast on the four front runners, stoking their ire and ensuring they’d arrive simultaneously. Then threaded the needle, sliding between two stinking bodies and past them. They smashed into each other and snarled, lashing out with claws, biting, fervor replaced with confusion when they realized they were fighting each other.

The back line was hesitant, confused by why the leaders were fighting. I shot a crossbow-bolt through a goblin’s ankle, then grabbed the leader, a goblin about a foot taller than the rest, by the forehead and covered his eyes with my palm, using the second of surprise to knock his sword hand aside and slit his throat, spinning him in a mockery of a dance. The arterial blood spray of their once-leader covered them, and the warlike growls turned to craven shrieks.

They ran.

I reached out with this time, guiding the forerunners to retreat directly into Headless. He battered them aside, sending their broken bodies careening over the pavement. From a glance, he was more annoyed than waylaid, but the sudden interference had slowed him down.

There’s more than I thought.

The influx of monsters wasn’t slowing down. If anything, there were more of them now that I was farther from the center. Few casualties on our end, from what I could see, thanks mainly to their disorganized movement and lack of coherence, serving as fodder while the real mission was carried out. No matter how I looked at it, the flagrancy with which resources were expended scared me more than anything else. Everyone was hoarding whatever—selve, items, favors—in anticipation for what came next. I had more money than I’d ever had, especially by pre-dome standards and, despite that, was hesitant to spend. Because there was no forecast for when the tornado was going to hit. When this, or the second transposition was going to happen, and people we cared about would be thrown into chaos. The reasonable-albeit-primal response was to hunker down, scan the tree-line for any potential threats, and stockpile until we had the misfortune of discovering exactly what disaster we were preparing for.

Even if the Mystery Necromancer had more capital than god, this was an enormous waste. There were easier ways to get at me, far easier ways to get at my sister.

More to that point, if this was a strike at me it was concerning. Matt had fewer potential enemies, less willing to escalate the ongoing tensions between regions and guilds to targeting connected innocents. But if it was someone who knew I was Myrddin, almost anyone capable would take a shot at me. Considering what they’d thought I’d done and the bounty on my head, there was plenty of motivation.

If the neck-breather didn’t rip me to shreds, I needed to get aggressive. Narrow down possibilities on Matt’s side as quickly as possible before I went nuclear.

I swore, jerking out of the way as the minotaur’s thundering footsteps gained ground, belatedly realizing I’d zoned out on a straight-away. Curving misstep, I mantled over a car and behind a light pole, flinching at the clang and shudder of metal, tucking my shoulder and ending up on my back. Above, the battered light pole swayed precariously, whinging metal and cracking asphalt, teetering towards me.

No.

As landed from my fingertips, the pole swung back the other way, teetering towards the road. The tortured bolts at the base tore free and the pole plunged down, landing directly on headless and pinning him flat. He struggled, pushing against the concrete with both hands, trying to shove the pole off of him. It barely moved, but from the strength he’d showed that could be shock. It wouldn’t be long until he got it off.

I staggered to my feet preparing to run again before I glanced at the time. It was half-past-noon. I’d barely run this thing for half of the cooldown and it was already nipping at my heels. It was tempting to cobble him somehow, turn the tables in my favor so I could time this properly, but if I went overboard, that would risk immobilizing him. And to make a serious impact, I needed to get up close, putting me in range of his bulging arms. Unless I got creative.

I blasted a piece of recently emancipated concrete about half the size of my fist with , wedged the toe of my boot beneath it, and sent it skittering towards where the minotaur’s head would be, rock curving with perfect accuracy.

There was a hollow thunk, and instantaneously, the guttural growling and snarling ceased.

The brief silence that followed was immediately shattered as the minotaur frantically clawed at his throat in a desperate attempt to clear his airway.

Come find me once you handle that.

I moved at a brisk jog, putting a more reasonable distance between us now, giving myself room to maneuver. By the time he caught up to me at the reservoir, it was already too late.