It’s true, kid, the best defense is a good offense, the master had told Sam once before. As long as you don’t overdo it, your powers will keep you standing long after your opponents crumble.

As he raced forward, Sam believed now was the time to put his master’s words to the test.

“Look at you go, Mr. Healer,” the Trickster said just as he stepped aside for the cannibal Boar. “Charging toward certain death without a care — what’s that thing they say about courage?”

The hulking figure behind the Trickster launched itself forward too, and the sound of its charge was akin to cannon fire.

“Ah, yes… with great courage comes great stupidity,” the Trickster chuckled.

Sam ignored the Trickster’s taunts, choosing instead to focus on the red-skinned monstrosity hurtling toward him.

How to stop an unstoppable force, he wondered — and it was a question that caused a light bulb to turn on inside his brain.

Herculean had been deactivated after he’d crashed onto Hicks Street. This meant Sam was free to try out his brand new power, and so he screamed, “Bulwark!” into the sky.

Sam felt that familiar gut-wrenching sensation that occurred whenever a large chunk of life-force was drained from him. It was quickly replaced by the strange sensation of heat wrapping around his body almost like an extremely thick fur coat had fallen across his shoulders.

ALERT! [Bulwark (ζ)] is now active. You receive a [30% Physical Attack Resistance] for eight seconds.

However, Sam didn’t plant his feet on the ground and braced for impact like one would have expected of an immovable object. Instead, he actually increased his pace, ensuring that he and the cannibal Boar would collide long before those eight seconds were up.

HEALTH POINTS (HP): 253/690 STAMINA POINTS (SP): 127/345

“Just barely enough,” Sam huffed as he ran, “for this second part... of my crazy idea... Herculean!”

Power filled Sam’s body, the kind that caused his muscles to ache and his veins to feel like they were on fire. Thankfully, Sam had gotten used to this feeling, and so he just gritted his teeth and allowed the pain to course through him while he ran onward.

New notifications popped up before him — warnings for the risky combination of life-draining powers he’d just activated — but Sam had zero time to pay them any attention as he and the horror were about to collide.

“Hey, unstoppable force,” Sam raised his arms forward and crossed one over the other, forming an x-shaped symbol in front of him, “meet unstoppable force!”

Like two enemy linebackers on a football field, the horror and hero collided, and their impact was so great that the asphalt cracked beneath them. The surrounding air exploded outward, causing the nearby trees to bend backward.

As for the two unstoppable forces, well, it turned out one of them was actually stoppable. No, it would be better to say that Sam had figured out a way to stack the odds in his favor. For while the cannibal Boar had struck from a high point, the hero had gone very low and aimed all his momentum below the cannibal Boar’s thick, trunk-like legs.

At the moment of collision, Sam hooked his arms around the horror’s shins, and with a heavy grunt and a yell of, “Timber!” he yanked the cannibal Boar’s feet sideways in what was basically a super-powered double-leg takedown.

It was a repeat of their clash on the second floor with Sam showing off yet another grappling move the master had taught him. And if Chiron had been watching, he would have enjoyed the sight of a nearly eight-footed horror crashing hard on the asphalt behind it.

Of course, this surprise attack wasn’t enough to defeat a gamma-level Boar, and Sam wasn’t stupid enough to mount a cannibal, especially now that his eight seconds of Bulwark were up. So he simply got up and stumbled backward to allow Thunder room to do her thing.

To the spectators with their smartphones out, Thunder’s leap forward was as graceful as she’d ever been. Only Sam knew that it was Maeve’s red threads that kept her up. And the frown on his face only deepened after he saw the crackling energy racing across her arms and legs.

“Don’t overdo it,” Sam pleaded.

“Says the guy who,” the cannibal Boar had sat up just in time to feel Thunder’s supercharged knee crash into its snout, “spear-tackled a godsdamn Boar!”

Sam already knew of Thunder’s Lightning Raiment as the technique’s details were written on the back of her Comic-Con 20xx exclusive trading card. So he knew it was a power and speed boost much like his Herculean was — minus the life-force drain — but Sam didn’t realize just how physically strong Thunder could get until he’d seen her knee blow the horror a good six feet back.

“Holy Zeus,” Sam whispered.

Thunder leaped forward and stomped her boot down on the horror’s chest, causing the ground beneath it to crack.

“Styx,” she snapped. “I’d have knocked you down into the sewer if I was at full strength…”

Now, if only things could have been resolved with just Thunder’s attacks. But they wouldn’t.

“No fair!” the Trickster yelled.

Because they couldn’t, not while a psychopathic villain was still on the loose.

“You’re double-teaming my horror!” the Trickster grumbled.

Sam! It was Maeve’s voice in his head which he guessed was a secondary feature of the red threads attached to his back. You’ve got incoming!

Her early warning allowed Sam to duck, dodge, and then roll away from the three shimmering fists that had been sent his way.

“I’m seriously never getting used to how nimble I’ve become,” he commented. Then he added, “Or people speaking directly into my brain... there are way too many people speaking to my mind...”

As for Thunder, Maeve had already reeled her away from the horror that was already rising to its feet after having shrugged off her attacks.

She slid over to Sam’s side, fuming. “It’s honestly godsdamn embarrassing how weak the Blight’s made me.”

Sam spared her a glance, noting how her neck glistened with sweat and how her lips had traded their pink shade for something much too pale. He didn’t bother to ask her if she was okay. There was no point because the determination in her face hadn’t wavered.

“We’ll take it on together,” Sam said. “I’ll go first.”

The proverbial bell rang loud, signaling the beginning of the next round. Only this time, it was a tag-team match. No, it was more of a two-on-three battle because for every opening the Trickster or his horror found, Maeve’s threads ensured Sam and Thunder escaped their attacks in the nick of time.

A soft nudge of an elbow or a slight pull on the leg was enough to move Sam away from the cannibal Boar’s massive fists or allow Thunder to dodge another one of the Trickster’s well-placed stabs.

Switch over to the Trickster, Sam, Maeve ordered. He’s the bigger threat. I can help Thunder with the horror.

Sam saw how Thunder’s chest heaved with the effort of avoiding the Trickster’s shimmering projectiles and knew Maeve was right.

“Tag,” he said.

Sam grabbed Thunder’s shoulder and pulled her back just as a shimmering fist raced toward her. He met this fist with his own Herculean punch and shattered the golden fist into a thousand tiny shards that dissipated in a shower of sparks.

“Oo~~oh,” The Trickster nodded appreciatively. “You’re proving more of a challenge than your alpha-level partner.”

Sam ducked to avoid the sideway slash aimed at his neck.

“I take it the rumors of her illness are true… “ The Trickster sent his blade careening back the way it had come and nearly cut Sam’s nose off. “The Blight, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy… no, that’s not true at all!”

“Hades’ bottom,” Sam landed a kick on the Trickster’s side, “don’t you ever shut up?”

Maeve’s control over their movements was even more impressive considering neither Sam nor Thunder was at full health. And, as their strength dwindled — Sams HP was in danger of hitting critical levels because of Herculean’s continued activation — the Red Weaver’s battle experience was key in helping the heroes increase their hit rates against their foes.

Sam, he’ll step into reach in three, two, Maeve’s voice drifted into his brain, now! Grab his arm and smack him in the solar plexus!

Trusting in Maeve’s power to see the threads of fate that clung over them all, Sam quickly followed her instructions and used his left hand to catch the Trickster’s forearm just before he could stab Sam in the gut with his kopis.

“Tag, you’re it!” Sam taunted just before sending his fist just below the Trickster’s chest.

That blow made the Trickster spit out blood. He probably would have been thrown to the other end of the street too if Sam hadn’t tightened his grip on the villain’s arm.

Sam, let him—

He guessed that she was about to tell him to let the Trickster go, but the villain’s elbow smacking him in the jaw addled Sam’s brain momentarily.

“Ouch,” he gasped.

That elbow to the jaw hurt Sam more than he realized. His fingers had slackened just enough for the Trickster’s hand to break free. Sam felt the blade’s tip pierce through his shirt and draw blood before its momentum halted.

“Holy...” Sam glanced down. “Talk about a close shave…”

Thin red threads, the ones that had been attached to Sam’s left arm, were now tied to the forward-curving blade of the Trickster’s kopis.

“Ah, so that’s how it is… I was wondering how you’d gotten so good at dodging only after a single night,” the Trickster chuckled.

“Styx,” Sam hissed. The jig was up.

Then he heard Thunder scream in pain, and Sam couldn’t help shift his gaze toward her.

No, the cannibal Boar hadn’t struck her down. It was still struggling against the crackling tendrils of energy that kept it caged. Thunder, though, was on her knees, and in the midst of another seizure.

“Oh, no,” Sam breathed.

Sam, duck! Maeve yelled into his brain, driving the hero to follow her command and saving him from the golden fist that had swung sideways at the space where his head was only a second ago. He missed the shimmering projectile that drove into his gut, though. It lifted him off his feet and then forced him onto his knees.

Sam spat out blood. The taste of iron lingered in his mouth.

“The gods must not like you very much, Mr. Healer,” the Trickster leaned in to whisper into Sam’s ear, “to lay such a difficult question at your feet… the choice of which life to save.”

Sam looked up, eyes wide, and saw the implication in the Trickster’s smile.

“Trickster, don’t—”

Another one of those annoying golden fists smacked Sam in the back of his head, driving him face-first onto the asphalt.

“Move, godsdammit,” Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

He crawled forward and launched himself at the Trickster’s retreating form, but his fingers failed to catch the villain’s ankle as it passed him by.

“Maeve!” Sam yelled. “Run!”

Seconds, that’s all the time Sam had. Luckily, Maeve had helped him quickly rise to his feet before her red threads slipped off him.

“Don’t worry about us… Just run, Maeve,” Sam repeated.

There really was no choice to make. Thunder needed him more.

“I’m here,” he said as he slid down to her side and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “I’ve got you...”

Heat poured out of Sam’s chest and flowed into the tips of his fingers as he cast “Healing Hand,” on Thunder and used his life-force to drive off the spasms that racked her body.

Then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the cannibal Boar chose that moment to finally break out of Thunder’s Static Cage. It lumbered unsteadily toward the duo with its fist raised high — but then stopped mid-swing.

Sam stared at it, saw the red threads coiled around its limbs, and felt fear take hold of him. Maeve didn’t run.

“Sam,” Thunder’s voice was weak but steady. “Go...”

He helped her to her feet.

“Are you—”

“—Hurry,” she turned to face the cannibal Boar. “I’m good now… I’ve got this...”

Once again, Sam didn’t have a choice. He would have to trust that Thunder did have things in hand. Maeve needed him now.

He raced over to the curb where Maeve and the Trickster struggled against each other.

“Hold on, Maeve,” he huffed.

Sam was close enough now to the arm that held the Trickster’s blade wrapped in Maeve’s red threads.

“Almost,” he huffed, “there!”

Then Sam heard the telltale ‘snikt’ of a blade stabbing into flesh, and he knew that Maeve didn’t have enough threads to defend herself with.

“Oh, gods, no!” Sam’s watched in horror as the Trickster sank his kopis deep into the seer’s gut. “Maeve!”