I woke up leisurely, which was a wonderful and rare feeling. Everything was finally on the right track. Uman assured me that the Crucible had a team inside Boston, and they were already asking around about my brother and sister.

Even if the rest of my team was a little leery of me since I killed the shade, Lord Ignatius was proud of me, and that was what mattered.

I had what Samantha called the second-best load-out in the Zone, and today was the day to practice.

After a quick stop in the cafeteria for breakfast, I went to a training room and started throwing my knives at a target.

I tried, and missed my target.

Samantha said.

Can’t I skip to the part where I modulate mana and gain enough Dexterity for the perfect throw?

Samantha said.

Samantha continued, “You need to stop wasting your floating points. I’ve told you before—Luck works in mysterious ways. Now that you have Luck, whenever your Mana Pool is full, it’s even more important that you are continually practicing the technique I taught you earlier. You should store your mana that you gain from Mana Regeneration throughout your body, and then at 30 second intervals, modulate it and gain Luck. With your current Mana Regeneration, this will leave you with around 15 “floating points” added to your Luck stat in your permanent resting state.

Put that way, keeping my Mana Regeneration in Luck made sense. Placing my unused Mana Regeneration into Luck, I resumed throwing my twin blades.

The only good news with this mundane practice was that I never had to retrieve my blades.

I was mid-throw about an hour later when the city’s alarm sounded.

My Communication Amulet buzzed, and I hear a guard’s voice say to report to the Crucible’s gate as fast as possible.

As I ran through the Crucible, with all my Mana Regeneration changed towards Agility, I passed many other Crucible residents running through the hallways.

It seemed, at least, everyone knew where to go. The lower leveled people were running deeper into the Crucible, while the higher levels were rushing towards the gate of the Crucible.

As I left the main underground fortress part of the Crucible, and ran towards the outer wall and main gate, I couldn’t help but appreciate at the various changes that had come about from the Crucible becoming the Zone’s Capital City.

The Crucible’s wall stood about thirty feet tall, in a semi-circle against the mountain that the Crucible was built into.

But the really fearsome part was the spherical bubble, a mana forcefield, that extended from the walls, over my head, into the mountain, and under the ground.

The spherical shield was fully charged, activated, and buzzing angrily.

I frowned the moment I could see the gate, and picked up my pace.

The gate was closed, but I could see Dawnbreaker, fully clad in silver armor, with only her head visible. And she was standing on the wrong side of the gate, and the energy shield. She was already inside the Crucible.

The nearby guards were leveling their weapons at her, but it seemed nobody had died yet.

Conspicuously absent were her two friends.

As I approached, Dawnbreaker immediately pointed at me. “He’s the one. What’s his name?”

She asked the nearest guard, who seemed unsure if he should say anything to her.

The Crucible didn’t have formalized guidelines about chain of command. Or, maybe they did, but I was outside of those formalized chains of command. It was clear, though, that the relatively low-leveled guards around had no idea what to do. And it looked like I was the highest leveled person of all of us.

“You have entered the Crucible without permission,” I said, as I arrived. “Please step outside. If you’re here to talk, then we can talk outside the gates.”

Dawnbreaker studied me, her piercing blue eyes taking in my battle robes and goat’s mask. “Have your guards open the gate, first,” she said with an innocent smile. “Unless you want me to break down your very expensive gate.”

Fuck. I didn’t actually expect her to be willing to leave—I’d thought she’d only just snuck in in the first place.

And Lord Ignatius would be furious if I turned down the chance to convert Dawnbreaker…

There were two ways to look at the current situation. The first was that Dawnbreaker had broken into the Crucible. The second, was that Dawnbreaker was trapped inside the Crucible. Why would we open the gates?

“Why are you here?” I asked, instead.

Dawnbreaker looked at me, and then glanced towards the bunker built into the mountainside. “I thought you were in charge, but I guess not. I don’t like repeating myself. I’ll wait.”

She seemed content to stand there, sword still sheathed across her back, armor glistening in the sunlight, and her long golden hair flowing behind her.

“How did you kill the shade?” she asked, suddenly.

At my pause, she continued, “Or are you not authorized to answer that question either?”

“Maybe you’ll find out in a few minutes,” I said, smiling wolfishly.

“Please don’t smile like that again,” Dawnbreaker said. “At least not while you’re wearing that ridiculous goat mask. Isn’t your Perception high enough already?”

I tried not to show any visible reaction. “Why would you say that?” I asked, neutrally.

How the fuck would she know that? I asked Samantha.

“Ah, is this your boss?” Dawnbreaker said, glancing towards Adia, who was quickly approaching. “Hi there, my name is Dawnbrea—”

Adia ignored Dawnbreaker’s clearly fake smile. “Guards!” The guards immediately straightened to attention. “Has Dawnbreaker broken any law besides sneaking inside the city?”

The guards shifted, looking uncertain.

“Is there any immediate danger outside those walls?”

Again, the guards sheepishly shook their heads.

“Then open the fucking gate and let’s talk about this outside these walls.”

The guards, it seemed, were happy to receive clear orders—on someone else’s head, be it.

The gate opened, and I studied the outside carefully, activating Mana Sensing, to make sure there were no invisible shenanigans going on.

“Now then,” Adia said, with her own vicious smile. “Shall we take our conversation outside? Or are you here for something else? Trying to capture the world’s first capital city, maybe?”

Dawnbreaker smiled cheerily. “Believe it or not, I am just here to talk. Unfortunately, I’m not here to talk to you. I’d like to talk to them,” she gestured to the growing crowd of curious people around us. Not the high levelers, but the curious individuals who were too low-leveled to realize the danger they were walking into by being so close.

“I’m curious,” Dawnbreaker said, raising her voice rather loudly. “Have any of you wondered, or have any of you realized, that the people with power in this city, are all being mind-controlled?”

I froze, unsure of what to do.

Adia just laughed. “Oh, I see. Who is being mind-controlled? Who is the mastermind? Do you have any evidence for this? Are there any other rumors you would like to share? Maybe we’re actually all aliens, or maybe you are the rightful ruler of this Zone?”

Dawnbreaker looked genuinely surprised, and her gaze softened a little. “They didn’t tell you? I’m so sorry…It was your father who escaped from this town and delivered all the evidence to my doorstep. Dozens of handwritten pages of his strange interactions with you and the other high levelers here.”

Adia froze like a deer in the headlights. “You… no…”

By now, more of our team had arrived. Petrov, Amos, and Parker, straggling behind.

“Wouldn’t you like to know what happened to your father, Adia? Or are you so divorced from your own feelings, so under someone else’s thumb, that you don’t care anymore?”

Samantha said.

I drew my sword. “Enough lies and slander.”

“Oooh, is there something you’re trying to hide, Mr. Assassin?” Dawnbreaker teased, as she drew her own sword, and her unisuit flowed over her head, leaving two glowing, silver eyes on the face and nothing else. Her blade was slightly longer than mine, and it released a golden light.

Everything about her is so on-brand it’s sickening.

The moment I took my first step towards her, Dawnbreaker released her aura. The low-leveled spectators were immediately pushed to the floor, forced to kneel or lie on the ground.

I ignored the weight of her aura, pressing forward, placing all my floating points from Mana Regeneration in Agility. I struck at Dawnbreaker, and she immediately raised her blade to block.

Strike, parry, riposte. As soon as the pattern started, it in a blur a dozen times in the next few seconds.

It was immediately clear that Dawnbreaker’s stats were higher than my original stats and Mana Regeneration combined. Every time our blades met, I felt like I was striking an immobile wall. She was moving just as fast, if not faster, than I was as well. Only Samantha’s combat shadow was able to help me keep my feet.

It was at this point I realized the cost to neglecting Dexterity. So far, I had relied on quick, harsh, targeted strikes to defeat my opponents.

I knew very little about the subtleties of a blade, and I had very little finesse with each strike.

Dawnbreaker’s blade looked like it was dancing, despite its larger size. It could change direction a dozen times in a single strike. I dipped into my Mana Pool, increasing my Agility so I could keep up.

Just a few seconds after Dawnbreaker and I first crossed blades, I felt Parker’s familiar buffs, and I could sense Petrov readying spells in the background.

I was content to stall—surely, as I delayed, more people would be coming, and Petrov would offer the firepower.

Dawnbreaker’s fine control allowed her to score several light slashes on my torso, but meanwhile I hadn’t even touched her armor.

As time passed, I started to wonder why my team still wasn’t acting. I was the only one crossing blades with Dawnbreaker—why? And Parker’s buff had disappeared…

Samantha’s reminder had me step back for a moment, glancing subtly around the open, grassy area. It helped that the goat mask increased my peripheral vision, too.

I could see several sets of thick, silver ropes—just like the ropes that had formed a net around me in Daybreak. This time, the silver ropes were literally tying up my team.

From the corner of my eye, I watched as Hank struggled against two silver ropes that had bound his hands.

Adia slashed through the silver ropes binding Hank, but the next moment, Parker fell to the ground, bound hand and foot.

Amos held his own, shredding the silvery ropes that flew towards him with his sword.

Petrov was the only one who seemed unconcerned by the ropes. He stood with his legs planted firmly on the ground, in the middle of a highly localized icy blizzard. Really, it looked like he was surrounded by a tornado of icicles.

“Parker, do not move!” Petrov shouted. Not a second later, four icicles flew out of the tornado and embedded themselves in the silver bindings that held Parker’s hands and feet.

“Fuck…” Parker whispered, staring at the three-inch long icicles that had split the thick ropes binding his hands, only drawing a pinprick of blood.

“Thank you,” Hank’s deep voice resonated, as he was now free of Dawnbreaker’s silver ropes, thanks to Adia’s quick bladework. He raised his hammer and rushed forward, standing next to me.

This whole time I’d been observing my team, I had also been sparring with Dawnbreaker, barely holding my own. For whatever reason, the ropes weren’t trying to tie me up.

Finally, more members of the Crucible joined in.

Three arrows flew towards Dawnbreaker, forcing her to take a step back, relieving the pressure on me a little.

A direwolf that I had never seen before—presumably tamed by someone in the Crucible—approached Dawnbreaker’s flank, not directly attacking yet, but just a not-so-subtle presence, a snarling reminder for Dawnbreaker of another factor she needed to take into account.

Two well-timed fireballs flew towards Dawnbreaker, forcing her to slash at one—somehow extinguishing it with her blade. A silver shield formed in her left hand to deflect the other.

This left room for me to attack. I was already following my combat shadow, crouching low and lunging directly towards Dawnbreaker’s torso.

Stabbing Dawnbreaker’s armor felt like stabbing a metal wall. From the heavy resistance, I could tell I hadn’t broken through.

Samantha supplied.

So we back her against the wall, and then hit her with everything we’ve got.

Even though it had just occurred to me, it seemed like that was what Samantha’s combat outline had already been attempting, and what everyone around me was thinking as well.

The gate had been closed, and Dawnbreaker was now surrounded by a force of over twenty highly dangerous people.

All of the silver ropes that had appeared had been dealt with, and trying to send out more ropes from her armor at this point would be futile—it would just weaken her armor.

Amos and Adia joined Hank and me in the front lines. Even though Dawnbreaker’s stats exceeded mine—at the moment—she couldn’t deal with all of us, and the suppressing firepower from the periphery.

None of us were going all-out, yet. Amos used his long blade to target Dawnbreaker’s feet, keeping her constantly dodging, constantly forcing her backwards. Hank provided a steady, stable presence. Basically a “don’t you dare come this way.” He didn’t even bother swinging his hammer, since Dawnbreaker’s Agility would make any attacks from him laughable.

The tamed direwolf, interestingly enough, was a strong pair for Hank, snarling at Dawnbreaker anytime she would approach. The wolf’s Agility and speed matched well with Hank’s slower movements.

Step by step, we were forcing her towards the wall.

As we drove her back towards the wall, I found myself taking a more and more passive position, which allowed me to recover more of my mana.

Adia had basically taken over as the lead combatant against Dawnbreaker. To my surprise, she quickly scored several sharp strikes against Dawnbreaker’s armor in quick succession. Adia was using long, delicate-looking knives, and she would strike for a split second, somehow avoiding Dawnbreaker’s devastating sword.

Since I first attacked, Dawnbreaker hadn’t said a single word. It left an ominous feeling, fighting a humanoid figure with glowing silver eyes and a featureless face. It felt, almost, like we weren’t fighting the smiling, taunting blond woman who had appeared in the Crucible. Dawnbreaker obviously realized we were driving her back against the wall. But no matter which way she turned, whichever one of us she tried to attack, we were ready for her. I played the role of auxiliary defense, jumping to defend whichever direction Dawnbreaker attacked.

By now, in addition to arrows, fireballs, and devious flying icicles, someone was maneuvering the earth underneath Dawnbreaker’s feet in subtle and erratic ways.

As Dawnbreaker charged towards Hank, the ground underneath her gave in, letting her foot fall a few inches into a sinkhole. Of course, Dawnbreaker quickly recovered, but it was enough time for Amos to press his attack, slicing away at Dawnbreaker’s armor until Dawnbreaker retreated towards the wall.

Dawnbreaker’s strikes grew even more swift, powerful, and frantic, but it was no use. Before long, her back was up against the Crucible’s outer wall.

And thanks to the break Adia had given me, my Mana Pool was now fully charged again.

There was nowhere for Dawnbreaker to run, now. Soon, the Crucible would be one member stronger.