Snow stretched in every direction.
It blanketed the hills and dusted the trees, turning the land into a serene winter wonderland. I lifted a hand and flexed my fingers, feeling the cold bite into my skin. There wasn't even a speck of Brockton Bay in sight.
To all my senses, it felt like another world.
"Is my Noble Phantasm pleasing my Master?"
"It's amazing," I said, watching my breath fog in the air.
A wrenching scream tore through the quiet, followed by a roar in reply. I turned toward the sound and spotted the source in the distance. Ridley was locked in a brutal midair grapple with a smaller silver dragon, flames scattering across the snow as they twisted and crashed together.
"Oya? A dragon versus dragon," Prelati mused. "Quite the spectacle. Though you don't seem pleased."
"Because I warned the idiot about this happening. He should've finished it as fast as possible, and I'd bet money the battle maniac let him ramp up anyway," I grunted.
"Dragons are prideful creatures," Prelati offered helpfully.
As if on cue, Ridley slammed the smaller dragon into the ground hard enough to kick up a wave of snow, his body language unmistakably gleeful.
Goddammit, Ridley.
He had it under control, mostly. Ridley was fast enough to disengage if Lung started scaling too high. If not, that was a problem for later.
We weren't alone in the snow.
The flat, open illusion made it impossible to miss the figures scattered across the white expanse. I spotted the colorful forms of the Protectorate in the distance. They were turning in circles, panicked, shouting to one another as they tried to make sense of their surroundings.
Strangely, none of them paid us any attention.
"I thought it best for us to be uninterrupted. So I inflicted on them a small gift," Prelati said pleasantly.
I froze as a very specific, very uncomfortable memory clicked into place.
"What kind of gift?" I asked carefully.
"Oh, something simple. I surrounded them with illusions of burning houses filled with screaming people."
…Right.
Prelati was fucking insane.
I glanced back toward the distant heroes and offered a silent apology to them.
"New rule," I said flatly. "Ask for permission before you deploy traumatic illusions like that."
Prelati clasped his hands together and made an exaggerated pout, eyes shining suspiciously fast with tears. Someone else might have bought it. I knew better. This boy found traumatizing people with literal fields of guts hilarious.
I ignored his crocodile tears. "How long can you keep your Noble Phantasm up?"
"About an hour," he chirped. "Plenty of time to do terrible things. Shall I drown them? Seas of blood are always quite fun. Or perhaps a lifetime of trauma using heads and—"
"No," I cut in. "None of that."
He tilted his head. "Awe. They have no meaningful resistance to magecraft, you know. The sky is the limit, Master."
Yeesh. Better to redirect him before he gets ideas.
"Prelati," I said, "can you track someone for me?"
"I can," he replied slowly. "Divination was never my strongest field, though. I'll need something to establish a connection."
Crap.
A light tap landed between my shoulders.
I turned to see Igris holding out a scrap of cloth. Most of it was ash, but part of a white snake pattern was still visible along the edge.
My man. I took the cloth and shot Igris a thumbs up.
"Is this enough?" I asked. "It's from a body double. Same style of costume."
"I can make it work," Prelati said, taking the cloth with clear enthusiasm. He paused, then looked back up at me. "And what shall I do with the rest of these ingrates, my Master?"
"Just keep them trapped," I said quickly. "Standard snow illusion only."
"Even the dragon?"
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Fine. You can torture the dragon."
"Yay!" Prelati hopped in place before turning away, already chanting as mana gathered around him.
I watched the distant fight for a moment longer, then shook my head. I'd let Ridley have this.
It had been long enough. If I didn't deal with it now, I could already picture him slipping away.
I had a snake to kill.
Coil had done everything right.
Every scrap of information, every rumor, every half-confirmed report about the new cape had been parsed and pursued until there was nothing left. He had worked through the night, cataloging data and cross-checking conclusions with Tattletale until the picture was as complete as it was ever going to be.
He had rushed the meeting at Somer's Rock. He had burned timeline after timeline so the gangs would be primed to attack at the right moment. No expense had been spared as he bribed every cape he could find who was willing to be on standby, ready to kill the newcomer. It was heavy-handed, but both the Empire and Lung were primed to attack.
The cape appearing out of nowhere and incinerating his double had been unexpected, yes, but manageable. The man had even obligingly engaged the gangs on his own terms, saving Coil the effort of forcing the conflict.
The Undersiders were present. A sniper was in position. Several squads were armed to the teeth.
It should have been enough.
Instead, his power had gone haywire.
Any attempt to select a favorable timeline became moot, as his power seemingly refused to show him correct information. Creating a window where he could engineer the cape's death had vanished, with his power on the fritz.
Then the new cape seemingly started pulling powers out of thin air.
How was he supposed to plan around that?
"Goddammit," Coil snapped, slamming his fist into the console. "Report!"
No response.
The last thing he had seen was the world turning white. Then the feeds had gone dead.
Coil stared at the darkened screens, unsure whether his men were dead or if some external power was interfering. Fury simmered beneath the surface as he forced himself to breathe.
Salvageable. This was still salvageable.
Faultline was an option. She normally refused to operate in Brockton but he could blackmail or simply offer a price she couldn't. If it came to it, the Undersiders and her crew could coordinate an ambush with the Protectorate.
It would work. No.
It will work.
His plans for the city could not fail now.
The crash tore through the base like a thunderclap.
The lights flickered. Coil went pale and brought the camera feeds back online.
The screens filled with motion. A mass of roses surged through the corridors, bodies falling in its wake. A shadowed knight moved behind them, carving straight through his defenses. Bodies fell. Gunfire flared and died just as fast.
How did they find his base?
No. That didn't matter.
The realization tasted like acid, but it was unavoidable.
He needed to leave. Now.
A few sharp keystrokes wiped the servers clean. The base had no self-destruct. It was unfinished, something he had meant to address later.
No matter. He just needed to grab—
Cold metal pressed against the back of his head.
"Do as I say or you die."
His breath hitched. Instinctively, he split the timelines.
In one reality, the gun fired.
He snapped back into a single timeline, sweat breaking out along his spine.
"Are you trying to renege on what you owe?" a woman's voice asked.
Cauldron.
He opened his mouth to speak. The barrel pressed harder.
"Listen carefully," she said. "You will follow my instructions. You will order your men as I say. You will use your power when I tell you. Comply, and I will not kill you. Nod if you understand."
In the monitor's dark reflection, he caught the outline of a fedora.
Coil clenched his teeth and nodded.
Reluctantly, he sat back down.
At her direction, he reached for his power once more and began issuing orders through the comms.
Damn it all.
Prelati had conjured a pair of pigeons to lead the way.
With Ridley and him left behind to keep the other capes busy, I followed the birds in silence as they cut through the city, wings flashing between buildings before dipping into a parking garage a little further west, close to the docks.
Down we went.
The pigeons spiraled lower and lower, guiding us toward a forgotten, abandoned level wrapped in hazard tape and neglect. At the far end sat a heavy garage door, scarred and half rusted.
Igris went first.
The door barely finished opening before his sword flashed. Gunfire erupted inside, sharp and frantic, but it didn't slow him. Steel cut through rifles and armor alike, movements relentless as mercenaries fell in pieces, their resistance collapsing in seconds.
I flowed in behind him, slipping past muzzle flashes and panicked shouts.
They were just normal people. Armed and trained well, but still normal. The difference was overwhelming, or maybe it was the sight of their friends being mauled by a bear or carved apart by a shadowy knight that shattered whatever discipline they had. Several broke and ran instead of fighting.
A familiar chime echoed in my head.
[Feat Achieved! Secret Uncovered & Perimeter Shattered!]
[+1 Silver Ticket]
Roses bloomed around me as I shifted, weaving between bullets and bodies. I tore the ticket without slowing.
[Reroll Chip]
|Rare Item|
A simple golden poker chip. When used, it allows you to reroll your latest gacha ticket, losing its result in exchange for rolling the same ticket again. Upon use, the chip vanishes from existence.
Nice.
A guard lunged at me from the side. I slapped him aside hard enough to send him skidding across the concrete, then kept moving.
I did not feel particularly bad about killing them.
Dead men meant lost information, and I'd rather not be written off as a complete psycho. Proof I wasn't Slaughterhouse-tier, maybe. Not that it really mattered. My image was probably already shot.
Oh well.
After the initial charge, most of the mercenaries started surrendering. Weapons clattered to the floor. Hands went up. Fear spread faster than any order they could give.
We couldn't really capture them, so we broke a few bones and left them behind. A handful would probably escape. But my eyes were on the prize.
The birds went deeper and deeper until finally.
We came across a huge door that was reinforced steel, set into the far wall like a final boss room.
Half a dozen guards clustered in front of it, rifles raised, fingers on their triggers. They were trying to look disciplined. Trying was the keyword.
I did not slow.
Roses bloomed as I surged forward, momentum rolling into a punch. Bone gave way with a wet crack as I shifted, mass swelling and strength compounding. Bear power fuck yeah.
One guard went flying, hitting the wall with a terrible crack.
Gunfire erupted.
It did not get far.
Igris was already moving. A blur of black and silver slammed into their line, shield bashing one man aside while his blade cut another clean across the chest. I barreled through the rest, my sheer bulk knocking rifles and bodies to the floor.
The firing stopped almost immediately.
Once the first few went down, the rest broke. Panic overrode training. They turned and ran.
Igris lifted a hand.
A sharp wave of pressure followed, the sound of armor crushed in a vice. Bodies hit the floor and did not get back up.
He stepped forward and cut.
The door peeled open like paper.
Prelati's birds fluttered past us, circled once, then dissolved into motes of light.
Inside, he was waiting.
Coil sat behind a broad desk, hands folded neatly in front of him. The chair was expensive, the lighting deliberately gave him an overcast. He leaned back just enough to look relaxed.
I had to give it to him. He looked like a proper Bond villain.
"Welcome," he said evenly.
I raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you have a way out of this?"
"I'm a powerful man," he replied. "With considerable connections. I can–"
"No," I cut in. "We are not doing the cliché bargaining scene."
I snapped my fingers.
Igris responded instantly.
Invisible force yanked Coil out of his chair and dragged him across the room, his feet kicking uselessly before he was dumped at my feet. A clean force pull.
"You have nothing, Coil," I said.
My claws slid out and sliced through the skin suit, peeling the mask away in one smooth motion. The face underneath was pale, eyes wide, fear finally breaking through his facade of composure.
I grinned.
I didn't consider myself sadistic. But knowing what this bastard had done, and what he was planning to do, made the smile come easy.
"I can control destiny," he said desperately. "Whatever you want, I can get it."
I scoffed. "Your little simulation trick? Don't flatter yourself. And judging by how today went, I'm guessing it doesn't even work with me."
He froze.
The silence told me everything.
"What do you want?" he shouted, voice cracking. "What did I even do to you!?"
"Oh, plenty of moral reasons apply," I said calmly. "Kidnapping. Drugging kids. Blackmail. All of it." I met his eyes. "But honestly, I just hate you."
My grip tightened.
"Wait!" he screamed, pleading with someone who wasn't there. "I kept my promise! Save me—"
I snapped his neck.
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters if you wanna read ahead.