Evangeline’s Void Blade left her hand like an arrow, passing through my left eye, burning a hole in my brain and leaving an exit wound at the back of my head.

Even as the Void Blade was traveling through me, she had already formed another blade in her hand—this time, it seemed, she was holding it like a dagger, just about three inches long.

You have reached 0 HP.

Your skill “Death’s Defier” has taken effect. +1 HP

The Void Magic around Evangeline was glowing silver with my Mana Sensing.

I could also see that Evangeline had activated Void Shield around herself, a protective silver shimmer in place around her.

I already had all my floating points in Agility, but after talking so long with Evangeline, I had let down my guard enough to be hit point blank by her attack.

I added another fifty points into Agility, and fifty points into Physical Defense, which would increase my Health Regeneration and make my last point much harder to lose.

Evangeline’s second Void Blade was just inches from my throat.

I leapt backwards, out of the reach of her Void Blade, narrowly avoiding decapitation.

Evangeline’s eyes widened, but at the same time, she threw two more Void Blades towards me.

If she thought she could win a battle of knife-throwing, she was dead wrong.

I easily dodged both Void Blades that were flying towards me, my Agility making my movements fluid, and then I threw my own knives at Evangeline. The second knife managed to crack her Void Shield, only to bounce off a second Void Shield, buried underneath the first.

“Guards!” Evangeline shouted. She threw two more Void Blades towards me, but I dodged them easily, drawing closer until my sword could reach her Void Shield.

With a single strike, my Vampiric Blade destroyed the Void Shield around her.

The doors to the private dining room slammed open, and four of Evangeline’s guards barged in, raising their weapons immediately at me.

I gripped both of Evangeline’s wrists in one hand, holding my sword at her throat.

The guards immediately froze.

“She tried to kill me! I just want to return to Rebirth City,” I said.

“That’s a lie,” Evangeline said, speaking carefully so that my sword didn’t slice her throat. “He tried to kill me because he wanted to become Europe’s Zone Lord, and he wanted all the loot from the Sandman.”

I kept a careful eye on the mana around Evangeline, watching for any buildup that could imply that she was about to cast another spell at me.

“Let’s go,” I said, gesturing to the guards. “To the Teleportation Circle.”

The guards looked questioningly at Evangeline, but she nodded, and we all marched down the street together.

At some point, someone must have contacted more of Evangeline’s guards. The moment we left the restaurant in Honfleur City, there were almost a hundred people, armed and waiting, watching my every move.

“I don’t understand why you would attack me,” I said, loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, at Samantha’s prompting. “I gave you the Capital City Token like you asked.” If at all possible, I wanted to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of everyone here that maybe I hadn’t initiated the violence.

Evangeline burst into tears. “I-I thought we were friends. I trusted you! I should have realized that your greed would make you try to become Zone Lord of Europe.”

From the looks of the guards around me, I had been unable to gain any sympathy.

To my surprise, we were able to walk unhindered inside the building with the Teleportation Circle.

“We did what you want, now let me go!” Evangeline said.

I sighed. “You will have to come with me to Rebirth City. Otherwise, you could cancel the Teleportation Circle. I’m not an idiot.”

Evangeline just nodded sadly, and we stood in the Teleportation Circle.

“If I don’t come back, then make sure everyone knows—” Evangeline said, grandly, “That Jarek Novak and Dawnbreaker conspired to have me killed!”

With those parting words, Evangeline and I disappeared from the Teleportation Circle, reappearing deep underground in Rebirth City’s Teleportation Room.

The guards in Rebirth City recognized me, but immediately rose in alarm when they saw that I had a hole in my skull and I was holding someone like a prisoner in front of me.

“Well,” Evangeline said. “Am I free to return? Or are you going to hold me here on trumped up charges?”

I sighed. “Try anything again and you’re dead.”

I released her arms and stepped away from her, towards the guards who were watching our exchange with concern and interest.

“Send her back to Honfleur,” I said to the guards.

“Wait,” Evangeline said. I almost thought I was imagining the tears in her eyes. “I’m willing to give you another chance. I’d rather not end things on the wrong foot. Europe has several D-grade mines, I hope we can organize a mutually beneficial trade between us?”

“What?” I asked, completely at a loss for words.

“I think the English phrase is, ‘let bygones be bygones?’” Evangeline said, a slight simper returning to her tone. “After all, Europe’s Zone does need strong allies. I know you tried to kill me, but I’m a forgiving person.”

Evangeline nodded at the guards, who activated the Teleportation Circle, and Evangeline vanished from my sight.

I sighed, heavily, finally able to process everything that had happened. What the fuck was that? Why would she attack me? And how can I even think with a hole in my brain?

Samantha replied.

There are missions like that?

Samantha said.

Previously, since Honfleur City had just been upgraded, it didn’t have a Zone Communication Tower, which meant that I had been unable to contact anyone in North America.

Now that I was back in North America, I could finally check my messages.

There was a message from Petra, saying that Nova City’s mines were developing well. There was a message from Ryker, detailing how the development of Freedom City in Pennsylvania was going. He had sent out scouts to keep an eye out for any valuable resources in the area, but nothing had been discovered yet.

Uman had left a message essentially asking for a clarification in the chain of command for Hermes’ Whispers: Was Petra his boss?

I couldn’t help but laugh at that question. Petra was, it felt like, my boss as well.

Abelino sent me a list of several ores his mines were producing, and asked if I needed blacksmiths to refine or shape the ores—he had a D-rank Blacksmith in his employ if I was interested. At Samantha’s suggestion, I expressed interest in Cerium, which was a sky blue, lightweight metal that had similar properties to Mithril, but was D-rank instead of C-rank. So far, I didn’t know of any D-rank Blacksmiths in North America, so I also took him up on the Blacksmith offer.

Dawnbreaker left me a simple message: Find me when you get back.

I entered Dawnbreaker’s villa for the third time. The villa made me tense up a bit. From nearly being killed by her unisuit, to watching Adia’s father kill himself, to fighting a Greater Water Elemental and trashing her home, I couldn’t quite say that I had the best memories associated with the place.

The guards waved me in, and I knocked politely at the front door of Dawnbreaker’s house. I absentmindedly noticed that someone had fixed the lock, since I kicked down the door the last time I was here.

It said something about Dawnbreaker, that she lived in a humble home inside the villa—similar to an in-law’s cottage—while the main building was reserved for governmental functions.

“You wanted to see me?” I asked, when Dawnbreaker opened the door.

“I did,” Dawnbreaker said. I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe, someday she would actually sound happy to see me. “Take a seat.” She gestured to the couch and armchair in the living room. I sat down on the couch, and she picked the opposite armchair.

I glanced around, half-expecting to see Alex and Cy around, but neither of them were nearby.

“Is this about Evangeline? I swear I didn’t try to kill her,” I said, somewhat nervously. If Dawnbreaker believed Evangeline’s version of the story, then she could easily kill me right now.

“I don’t think you’re that stupid,” Dawnbreaker said. “No, this is about something else.

You’ve been withholding information. Why is that? Are you trying to profit off of information that could save lives?”

I sighed. “Honestly, it’s been a really hectic two weeks. As you probably know by now, I have an inheritance that contains a lot of information about the Schema. I just haven’t had the time to really process and share things.”

Dawnbreaker smiled. “Alright. Consider this the time. Most of the Region Lords have been killed, you’ve killed two Zone Lords in one day. Take a moment. Think through every piece of information that could possibly help people. Even if it’s a tiny detail, or something that seems completely unrelated to everything else. Take your time. I’ll go make some tea. What would you like? Green tea, Chai, or herbal?”

“Green tea,” I said, somewhat automatically.

Dawnbreaker rose abruptly and headed towards the kitchen, and left me lost in thought.