Contessa was a conduit for the Path, and even as the thought surfaced, her movements never slowed.
She shifted her weight and let her foot catch the man rushing her, sending him sprawling without breaking stride. He hit the floor hard. She did not look back. Her hand rose instead, fingers closing around the fire alarm before she yanked it down in one smooth motion.
She did not question how this would limit the damage in Boston. She had long since stopped asking why a particular step mattered.
There had been a time when she would have demanded answers, when she would have needed to understand the reasoning behind every action. That version of her might have been preferable to the hollow instrument she sometimes felt herself becoming now.
“Door to Patterson Street.”
A portal opened to her left with a sharp, silent snap. She stepped through and emerged in another part of Boston without hesitation.
Her current objective was straightforward: reduce interference in the impending confrontation between the Faerie Queen and the anomaly by clearing as much of the surrounding area as possible. She could not properly Path the outcome of their battle. Removing potential triggers and stray parahumans who might disrupt it was the most rational course available.
It was rare for what was good and what was rational to align so neatly.
She opened the door of an unlocked car and slid into the driver’s seat. The engine turned over at her touch. A brick came down hard on the accelerator as she stepped back out, leaving the pedal pinned.
The car roared forward, engine screaming as it barreled down the street.
“Door to Containment Chamber A6. Twenty meters ahead.”
Another portal unfolded in front of the speeding vehicle, revealing a stark off-white chamber beyond.
Hatchet Face came hurtling through the air a moment later, thrown like a discarded doll. The car struck him mid-flight and drove him into the brute with brutal precision. Metal crumpled. He skidded across the floor and slid cleanly into the waiting prison cell.
The Door snapped shut just as his nullification aura swept through the space.
A knight emerged a heartbeat later, its timing flawless, its helm turning as it searched for a target. She was already around the corner before its gaze could settle on where she had been.
The precision bordered on impossible. It was proof, as always, that questioning the Steps was unnecessary.
And yet…
Why could she not shake the feeling that something was wrong?
In the distance, a tower of flame pierced the sky. The confrontation between the anomaly and the Faerie Queen had likely begun. If the Faerie Queen succeeded in plundering the anomaly’s power, Cauldron would adapt. If she were slain instead, that too would serve a purpose.
Preparations had been made for either outcome.
A flicker of curiosity stirred despite herself. She restrained the impulse to formulate a Path regarding the battle. The memory of searing agony still lingered at the edge of her mind.
Contessa had endured many unpleasant things in her life, but that…
She shivered at the recollection.
Even so, the Steps continued. Her feet carried her forward. Fifteen steps to—
She stumbled.
The Steps vanished.
The certainty dissolved in an instant. In its place came flux, a violent oscillation as the Path fractured and reformed, shifting from a handful of steps to hundreds of thousands
A headache bloomed behind her eyes.
What was happening?
She had ensured her current Path would not interfere with the battle. Her gaze flicked toward the distant inferno. A new trigger event, perhaps. But that alone should not cause such instability.
“Path to…” she began, cycling through standard questions, confirming her continued survival and screening for Master or Stranger influence.
New Steps appeared immediately.
Her frown deepened. She obeyed them, breaking into a sprint as directed.
The sounds of battle grew louder with every block she crossed, the clash between the two monstrous capes reverberating through the city.
Her phone began to ring.
Answering would be trivial. The Path instructed her to ignore it.
Something was wrong.
She continued forward—and chose to disregard the Step that told her to let the call go unanswered.
“Report,” Contessa said.
“Eidolon has gone missing. Was he acting on your orders?” Alexandria asked without preamble.
“No.” A frown pulled at her expression.
“Releasing the Birdcage inmates to Glastig Uaine was not you either, then.”
“I did not authorize that.”
A grunt sounded on the other end. “Then David has gone rogue. We underestimated whatever Master effect was influencing him. Something is wrong in Boston, Contessa. Clairvoyant and Doormaker saw something and attempted to leave the compound for Boston. We had to subdue them. What the hell is happening?”
“I—”
The Steps fractured. Derivative, repetitive instructions flooded her mind, all but screaming at her to end the call immediately and continue forward.
She stopped.
The anxiety was immediate and visceral. It nudged at her mind, telling her to follow the Path.
If she did not follow it, she would die.
Her nails bit into her palm as she forced herself through another series of tests.
“Path to getting a dog. Path to going west as fast as possible. Path to buying ice cream.”
Every answer was identical.
Go forward.
“I’ve been mastered. The Path is compromised,” Contessa said through clenched teeth. “I need immediate extraction.”
A distant rumble rolled through the city.
In the distance, a towering titan of crystal had risen above the buildings. Its body was a lattice of facsimile blades, thousands of glittering edges forming scales that caught the light. Below it, dozens of figures in prison uniforms moved in eerie unison, as if orbiting a god.
Her head throbbed harder. She took a measured step back.
The nudging in her mind no longer bothered to disguise itself as guidance. The branching Steps that had once filled the Path collapsed inward one by one until only a single directive remained.
COME
For the first time in years, Contessa rejected the Path.
And she ran in the opposite direction.
Was this what it felt like to know your brain was literally bleeding?
I grit my teeth and hurled another wave of flame towards the Siberian on the roof.
My left hand erupted in fire, and the Siberian charging me popped like a bubble. I reacted on instinct, as I forced Infinity open again, stopping the trio of Siberians trying to capitalize and dogpile me.
My vision blurred.
I felt pressure behind my eyes, like they were about to burst. Warm blood trickled down my face.
My body lurched, but Igris held firm. He pivoted and sprinted the instant the opening appeared.
I could barely manage to cling to his back, my torn cape whipping behind me. The compulsion pounding in my skull, the pain drilling through bone, made it hard to stay conscious, let alone run.
I gripped the shadow knight’s shoulders and forced my hands up, tracking the near dozen Siberians racing after us.
Killing them did nothing.
The bitch just re-projected them and sent them back in. She refused to get near me, camping at range while her constructs did the work. I had nearly died earlier when I got greedy with the flames. I popped one, and the others swarmed in immediately.
Another claw swiped.
Flame burst from my eye and took it out. Igris juked left as two more dove for his legs.
They didn’t give me a second to breathe. If I hadn’t recalled my familiars earlier, they would have blitzed and buried me. Even with Francois and Ridley pulling some of the pressure off by harassing Glastig Uaine, there were still too many.
I needed space.
I couldn’t even spare the focus to check the tickets I’d rolled from the Birdcage villains.
“Forgive me, Igris.”
I felt him hesitate for half a heartbeat as I began condensing the flame. More. And more. Pulling it inward until it trembled in my hands while the Siberians circled.
Another trio rushed.
I didn’t open Infinity.
I just laughed, high and ragged, as heat flooded my veins and something glorious filled my soul.
“BURN.”
The fire detonated outward in a roaring wave, devouring everything around me in a single, incandescent surge. Buildings dissolved. Asphalt liquefied. The air itself screamed as it turned to a brilliant, all-consuming ash.
I felt the flame spread. Wide. Unchecked.
When my vision cleared, everything around me had been reduced to gray ruin. The Siberians were gone.
I dropped to the floor as the back carrying me disappeared.
“Hahaha… serves you right, heretics—”
Blood filled my mouth. I choked and spat it onto the ground.
“Ergh…”
I needed to—
I turned inward, forcing my vision toward the results of what I’d rolled.
[Feat Achieved! Burn the Labrat]
[Feat Achieved! Crispy Crane]
[Rolling Silver Gacha Ticket]
[Minor Regeneration]
|Uncommon Ability|
Gives you a minor healing factor, good enough to close lacerations and stabs during a fight, but not enough to completely bounce back from injuries mid-fight. You can further speed up healing by expending energy.
I ripped Petal Burst out of its slot and replaced it instantly.
Slight relief washed over me. But it wasn’t enough.
I shoved more energy into it. The burning in my skull dulled from agonizing to something merely a painful headache. The pressure behind my eyes eased. Blood still dripped, but slower now.
Good. I could work with that.
[Rolling Silver Gacha Ticket]
[Desert Key]
|Rare Item|
An ornate key that, when turned in a sufficiently large space, creates a portal leading into a pocket dimension that is 5 km x 5 km x 5 km in size that contains a desert inside. The sunlight is harsh, the wind is strong, the night is cold, and few creatures can survive. The gate that leads outside the dimension is always open and leads to where the entrance was last opened.
I yanked the key from my inventory and stabbed it into empty air.
A thin seam of light split upward like reality had been cut with a blade. The line widened, peeling open to reveal endless dunes beneath a white, merciless sun.
Heat rolled out to meet the ash-choked ruins behind me.
I grunted and staggered forward into the desert.
The Faerie Queen had been playing it smart, ducking into buildings and using broken terrain to box me in and bleed me dry. Out here, there would be no walls to hide behind.
Let’s see her dodge my flame on open sand.
I pulled inward and felt Francois and Ridley snap back into my inventory. No sense leaving them exposed while I repositioned.
In the distant sky beyond the portal, I could still see it. The army of ghosts swirling around Glastig Uaine. For a brief moment, her attention wasn’t on me.
Because something else had appeared.
A titan of crystal flesh rose not far from her position, its scales glinting like layered blades.
“What the fuck is that…”
Both entities noticed the portal.
Then they started moving in my direction.
I swore and broke into a run, boots sinking into hot sand as I sprinted deeper into the desert
***
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.