Finesse check made! You have successfully darted free of rift entrance!

Note! All ritual spells have been disrupted by realm transfer, regardless of extra mana infused into your constructs. No shield or gust of air aids you!

You are surrounded by thick choking smoke.

You sense no reds in the area!

You have dispelled Hell Vines!

Eric took the expedient measure of holding his breath and sprinting a good few hundred yards, finally clearing the blazing inferno. The blazing forest would be a death trap for any would-be ambusher who dared to stick around for any length, and for that reason, he refused to play the fool and put it out. This was a wild, monster-filled wild-mana area, the farthest thing from a nature preserve, and the only thanks he’d get for any conservation effort right now would be a goblin round in his back, or a six-limbed bear’s maw tearing into his throat.

“Fuck, that,” he whispered, eagle eyes scanning the area, confirming both his hopes and fears.

There were no reds anywhere near… but there were no Velimobiles either, and he had sensed a small train of them during the mad moments he had been fighting for his life a short while ago, clearly used for quick troop transport of elite units.

Which meant that there had been enough survivors at least for a tactical withdrawal and to remove the bodies, or at least their most precious possessions, he thought, before flashing a grim smile. “But I still claimed your sweetest blasters, fuckers. And three sweet bronze cannon I’ll be Flesh-Sculpting some fresh ammo for very, very shortly!”

He chuckled coldly. “Because we will most definitely be having this conversation again… WHEN I TAKE OUT YOUR WHOLE FUCKING CITY!” he roared, glaring off in the direction of the Big Apple before turning his focus back to the rift, thinking fast as he took another deep breath, sprinted through the smoke, and jumped back through.

“You made it!” Jack’s smile was lit up with relief, as was everyone else present. He then swallowed anxiously. “Any sign of Ron?”

Eric solemnly shook his head. “There was no sign of any ambushers, or bodies. They claimed all the velis, however. Including the one we had grabbed.”

Richard’s eyes widened. He angrily shook his head, pulling at his own hair. “Fuck, fuck, I’m such an idiot!”

Emily’s eyes widened in alarm when he began clawing at his own face. “Rich, stop it! Stop hurting yourself!”

The specters of course hissed and chuckled their mirth.

“Sanguis Fulmen, fuckers!” Eric snarled, flashing a fierce smile when half a dozen exploded, shrieking into nothingness as the rest fled, glaring their hate Eric’s way.

He smirked and gave them all the finger.

“Richard, stop it!”

Haunted eyes gazed into Emily’s own. “Can’t you see? This is all my fault!”

“how the hell do you figure that?”

“Because I didn’t even think they might have tracking devices in the velis! It’s the only thing that would have given them such confidence to strike an ambush at us in the middle of Orange territory that they normally wouldn’t dare! Why would they? Now of all times?”

Eric sighed, bowing his head in acknowledgment of Yuki’s glare.

“That’s my fault, fearless leader.” He flashed a bitter smile. “Greed and the Bloodtear Syndicate has formally declared all out war on me and mine, all previous contracts and accords broken. A state of Vendetta is now in effect.”

Richard’s eyes widened. “Are you fucking serious?”

Eric flashed a fierce, bitter smile. “I can’t tell you how tempted I was to scream my acceptance of his challenge on that fucking eyebot, and maybe strike the fear of god into that asshole’s craven heart. But then I recalled that Greed, as much as I hate to say it, is one smart fucker, and has been playing us all like fools from the very start. Six moves ahead when we don’t even realize we’re all playing cutthroat chess. Which makes me think that he wants me to declare it. He's trying to goad me into attacking his interests right away. And somehow I'm just sure that will somehow fuck with my mother's ability to finish collecting her troops... I mean my sister's troops, that the smarmy bastard owes her. Troops that Greed must be FURIOUS that he has to let through. But that's just a hunch, where I'm assuming worst-possible scenarios. Because they've proven pretty fucking accurate, so far. What's not a hunch is that he's no longer pulling punches. At all."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Eric's gaze turned thoughtful. “Have any of you guys ever heard of Calvin The Destroyer?”

Emily shook her head.

Yuki paled.

Jack’s eyes bulged in alarm. “Dude, trust me, you do NOT want to fuck with that guy. He’s not a kid playing at being a Delver, he’s an actual, full-blooded Contender. He hunts down people like you for fun!”

Yuki nodded. “He even has a Blue Corp affiliated streaming service, where he makes a fortune selling his live-feed duels and fights to all the high-powered fuckers eagerly awaiting his next stream of butchering whoever the fuck he feels like. Eric… I’ve seen him duel in the New York pits.” She paled, an unusual sight in jaded Yuki. “What he does to anyone who dares to challenge him… it isn’t pretty, let me just say that.”

“But he respects Blue Corp boundaries!” Jack hastened to add. “Since he uses their services. He’s savage, not stupid. If you can manage to make it to the Blue Quarter in any city, you should be safe!”

Emily’s eyes grew wider, her visible pallor now just as bad as when Eric had first healed her. She choked back a sob. “Oh fuck, now we’re going to be hunted down by an elite Contender? Why won’t this day finally end!?”

Eric cleared his throat. “Yeah, about that, guys...”

Jack’s gaze grew in intensity. “Okay, new plan. We cut through Orange-tier territory and don’t fucking stop til we hit Freetown, since New York’s just a fucking death trap. Everyone-agree?”

Yuki nodded. “Makes sense, let’s—what the fuck are you holding, Eric?”

Eric smirked at the shocked expressions all five of his party members were giving him. He smirked down at the shriveled head in his hand. “This, guys, is what I was trying to tell you about. I already met Calvin. And let’s just say he’s not quite the fighter he hyped himself up to be.”

Yuki gazed at Eric in stunned disbelief. “Eric, I’ve seen him fight. He’s a fucking monster.”

“He’s a bitch who doesn’t know the first thing about fighting with polearms. Or at the very least, he did nothing to guard his line, or embrace the virtues of a windmilling strike and that, as you can see, cost him quite dearly.”

Eric smirked, tossing the head towards a yelping Yuki before pulling free the man’s Dark steel battle axe, made of such heavy alloy that it felt just as comfortable and meaty in his hands as his bardiche had, all the way back at level 9. And he was pleased to find that his suspicions were right as he demonstrated the basic kata that Jake and Louie first had him master, flowing from stance to stance, weaving in tightly controlled strikes and overhand moulinets before switching it up and lashing out with tight underhanded blows, always keeping either the shaft or blade in front of him, always perfectly balanced, able to strike, pivot, and weave on a dime.

He couldn’t help but smirk at the expressions his little display earned him. “And that, friends, is how you wield a battle axe weighted just like a bardiche, even if the blade length is only half of what I’m used to. It still falls under polearms, a weapon I trained with pretty intensely, once upon a time.”

He frowned, noting how silent all his friends were being.

He coughed self-consciously. “Sorry, that was probably unnecessary. What can I say? It’s been a long fucking day. But if any of you want to pick up bardiche, battle axe or polearm skills and earn some free points by pushing it to Journeyman... I was actually going to offer to train anyone who wanted to, you know, learn. Or we can spar with whatever you’re strongest at!” he suggested brightly, flashing a flinching Jack his friendliest smile. “I’d be happy to dance spears with you any time, Jack, since that’s also a weapon I’m trying to get to Epic tier.”

For some reason that final declaration made half the party flinch.

Yuki traded looks with Emily, still holding the desiccated head of the former contender that had stricken such fear into his companion’s hearts.

“He’s a fucking monster.”

Emily nodded, not saying a word.

Eric sighed, putting the battleaxe back in his ES Space, along with Caliban’s head when a smirking Yuki tossed it back to him.

“So what now, Eric?”

“Now I’m thinking we go to Freetown. I have friends there. Good friends. And assuming it wasn’t a certain asshole shaman who fucked us over… we’re still green for a certain double heist!”

Richard winced. “Yeah, with the gnolls now on shoot-to-kill mode with all of us...I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

His sentiment earned a handful of nods.

Eric’s cold smile grew. “Do you really think that’s going to be a problem?”

Richard frowned. “What the hell are you talking about? Of course it will be a problem.”

Eric chuckled. “Believe it or not, I’ve danced this dance before.” He turned to Jack. “Remember Gilton? What happened when the walls tumbled down, the keeps exploded, and the city was flooding with elves?”

Jack chortled. “So that’s when you made the magic happen! You didn’t fear the chaos, you made it work for you!”

Yuki’s clenched the hilt of her naginata, her gaze hungry for the play she sensed just as crisply as Eric did. “We’ll stir up a panic. New York’s enemies will flood the city, and we’ll be sliding free of the chaos with a fucking fortune in gold and treasure!”

Eric nodded. “That’s the plan. So let’s go chat with some friends of mine, and see if we actually have a shot in hell of making it happen.”