I sucked on the sweet, enjoying the red-root flavour almost as much as I enjoyed its warming enchantment. The foot-deep layer of snow covering the ground now worked only to our advantage; with Ted’s sweets, we could avoid the cold, and the snow was good for keeping our approach quiet. Though I left footsteps in my wake, there would be gaps as I crossed distances with my portals, making me nearly impossible to track. Besides, the enemy would only know to look for my tracks once the job was done, and by then, it would—hopefully—be too late.

  I was alone, having left the team behind in a strategically advantageous position. If everything went according to plan, then I would get into the enemy camp, assassinate Arit, and get out of there before anyone ever knew anything had happened. But we had a track record of things not going according to plan, and so it made sense to have a backup. If needed, I would portal Arit out of his camp and drop him into the middle of a small valley, where the rest of the team would be waiting to strike. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I hoped that, just once, things would go our way.

  Over the past few days of riding, the foothills had given out to the great flat plains of the southern Goldmarch, and so there were fewer places to hide. I approached Arit’s army from the west, from among a dense forest, but this would only get me so far. I’d still need to cross a great distance to get into the enemy camp, but this, again, was where the snow came in handy.

  My latest core Portals ability upgrade had removed the distance requirement, but still relied on my aim. Even from as far away as I was, I could in theory portal myself into Arit’s tent. In practice, however, I’d probably miss on the aiming front. At least the thick snow would dampen my fall, even if I were to fall from a height.

  Before I stepped forth from the trees, I pulled a poison from my pocket—one of Corminar’s most damaging creations. I dipped my knife into the oozing green mix, watching the poison interact with the green spells etched into my blade by Val. Both of these impacts, combined with my Stealth passives, would have to be enough to kill even Arit—the amount of damage dealt would be incredible. But I left nothing to chance, and had one more trick up my sleeve.

  I opened a small satchel, and pushed aside the sweet in question, instead looking for two others. I removed the next two sweets and popped them in my mouth alongside the remnants of the warming red-root nugget. These were two sweets I’d had before, back in Auricia all that time ago, and they would temporarily give me a couple of active effects. Eyeslide meant that even if people did see me, their vision had a good chance of drifting over me without properly noticing me. And the second sweet, which granted me temporary Invisibility, probably needs no explanation.

  The moment that I saw my hands disappear before me, I stepped out from the cover of the trees. I began to run, portal, and run again, towards the camp, the only sign that I was there being the tracks I left in the snow. But at this distance, even the improved eyesights of the corrupted soldier guards were unlikely to spot such minimal impact.

  I kept moving as I was, scanning the camp for signs of that larger tent that I knew hosted Arit—who would suffer nothing else. I spotted it in the camp’s very centre, surrounded by more soldiers of corruption than I stood any chance of surviving. There would be one or two more inside the tent, I knew, but hopefully with my new enchantments, I could slip through their fingers.

  I waited as long as possible to open the final portal, the one that would spill me out into Arit’s tent. The closer I was, the more chance I had of getting the aim right first time, and the more chance I had of killing Arit before anyone knew anything had happened.

  I drew my poison-covered, lifedrain-etched blade, and I pulled the last two sweets from the satchel. I popped them into my mouth, and then bit hard into the solid sugar candy, activating the last two effects. Lightfoot nearly eliminated the sound of my footsteps, while the other, Mighty, increased the damage I would deal in the next few minutes.

  And then I opened the last pair of portals.

  I leapt through it and landed mutely on the ground of Arit’s tent. My aim had been true. Success.

  I looked around slowly, desperate to avoid any movement—or knocking anything—that might give away my position. I saw Arit lying asleep on the bed—apparently even Players slept—with two soldiers of corruption standing at the tent flap. It was just as I’d expected. It was almost too good to be true.

  Don’t think things like that, idiot, Val’s voice ran through my head—an imagined jab but one that wasn’t wrong.

  The opening of the tent flapped in the bitter wind as I creeped over to Arit’s side. I raised my knife in the air, pointing downwards into the Player’s chest, I drew in a deep breath, and I activated Execution. My blade plunged towards Arit’s heart.

  But something grabbed my wrist, mid-attack.

  I pushed against the force, blinking, then tried to shake my wrist free. Was this some kind of Worldbending spell I was yet to unlock? Some trap that Arit had set for me, or for any would-be assassin?

  My question was answered with the invisible force turned visible, and I saw that it was little more than a woman’s hand grabbing my wrist.

  ‘Hello, son,’ my mother said.

  Arit’s eyes snapped open.

  My mother yanked on my arm, her immense strength sending me flying through the air. I ploughed through the side of the tent, taking a good half of the fabric with me, then landed, tumbling across the camp.

  A hundred pairs of eyes looked at the tent cloth draped over me, but all failed to react. It took me a second to realise that they’d only seen the fabric move, and not the invisible Player slayer underneath. Yet… my mother had seen through that active effect. Whatever the true extent of her build was, it meant that she didn’t just turn invisible, she could see through others’ invisibility too.

  I stumbled back to my feet, tearing myself free of the cloth that had wrapped around my legs. I saw Arit also leaping to his feet, apparently much less groggy when he’d just been woken up than I would have been. And I saw, a moment too late, my mother pick up the vial of ink from Arit’s desk, then throw it at me.

  The glass shattered on impact, the ink inside making my otherwise invisible body visible for all to see. Only then did the army truly react. In a blink, the soldiers had formed a circle around my inky shape, spears held out, the soldiers of corruption standing closest to me.

  I turned back to my mother, and I sighed. ‘Is this how it goes?’ I asked. ‘You won’t kill me, but you’ll keep interfering? Is this just gonna continue? Are we doomed to some eternal battle?’

  ‘Not eternal, no,’ my mother replied. ‘It won’t be much longer, now.’

  I hated to think what she meant by that. Were Tana and her Council almost done with their preparations for the ritual? Were these malae the last piece of the puzzle?

  ‘Oh, I beg to differ,’ I said. I snapped open a portal beneath me, then fell through it to land at Arit’s rear. I activated Titan Husk just in time, just before a corrupted soldier could reach out to grab me, to dig its fingertips hard into my shoulder. Opening a portal with one hand, I severed the monster’s arm, though its fingers were deep enough into the muscle tissue of my shoulder that the hand remained in place.

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

  At the same time, I reached my blade forward to stab into Arit. I didn’t have my Stealth Attack or Execution damage boosts, but I still had the effects of the Ted’s enchantment, Corminar’s poison, and Val’s lifedrain magicks working for me. It was nice to have such a strong team on your side. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to kill Arit—those missing damage buffs were more than enough to make a difference—but at this point, I would take weakening him.

  I opened another portal beneath us, this one my saved portal back to the valley where the Slayers waited. Arit and I fell, the Player falling through it, while my fall was interrupted by a spear passing through the shoulder.

  I cried out in pain, my vision blurring, darkening, bile erupted from my throat. Having just enough of my wits still with me, I turned and portal sliced through the spear’s shaft. Half of the weapon stayed within me as I began to fall down into the portal once more. Of the many soldiers of corruption charging at me, two thought not to attack me, but to leap for the portal that I was falling through.

  When I tumbled out onto the grass of the valley sides, I knocked spearpoint against ground, making the extreme pain flare up once more. This slowed me down just enough that when I closed the portal, two of the soldiers of corruption were already fully through, though parts of a handful more were sliced off when my magicks ceased. In such a state as I was, I didn’t have time to read the resulting experience notifications.

  I realised then that it wasn’t just the soldiers of corruption who had passed through. My mother stood, having emerged through the portal quicker than even the monsters, her expression calm as she settled her eyes on me. To look at her calm posture, she wasn’t angry, or frustrated, but simply… considering the situation in front of her.

  ‘Styk!’ Val cried out.

  I pushed myself to my feet, staggering, blinking the world back into focus. The team had launched into an attack on the Player, just as planned, but that had been a gamble even before considering the presence of two corrupted soldiers. While one of them charged Zoi, Arzak and Corminar, the other went at Val and Lore. It was the second one I focused on, retrospectively justifying that as being because Zoi had fire magicks at her disposal, when really it was pure favouritism for my wife. I pressed my left hand forward—the other injured by the spear still protruding through my right shoulder—and opened a portal just in front of the monster.

  The corrupted soldier tried to avoid the magicks at the last possible second, but it was charging too fast. Its own momentum carried it into the edge of the portal, slicing it in two. I had to quickly open another portal to catch the grey flesh that spilled forth, stopping it from corrupting my friends.

  ‘Thank you!’ Lore called out.

  At the same moment, a huge blast of fire erupted from the other side of the small valley, where Zoi was incinerating the other corrupted soldier. For good measure, Corminar lobbed a flammable potion at the creature. When the glass hit, and the contents spilled over the monster, the fire grew greater, and the inhuman shrieking grew louder.

  But these two victories had just distracted us from the real danger: the worldbender. The Player, in the past few seconds, had gathered himself, and opened a portal high in the sky above us.

  From that portal began to pour a steady gush of lava.

  So Arit had access to saved portals too.

  ‘Watch out!’ I shouted, and the ever-alert Corminar immediately looked up at the lava falling down to meet them, his eyes widening. I used my magicks to pull my friends out of trouble at the last moment, dropping them to my side.

  Meanwhile, Lore had charged the enemy, as he was prone to do, and at that very second his sword met the Player’s own. Metal clashed against metal, then the two men pressed their weapons against each other in a struggle of strength. But Arit wasn’t built for strength, he was built for magicks, and so the clashed blades slowly, trembling, headed his way.

  Val was already crouching with her hands on the ground by this point, her eyes glowing bright lime green, her Witchcraft magicks seeping into the ground. Roots shot forth from the mud, wrapping themselves around Arit in the blink of an eye, holding him in place.

  ‘Don’t release the magicks!’ I shouted at her. ‘If you release it, he’ll be able to cut through the roots with his portals!’

  Val nodded her understanding, but said nothing more.

  As the other four of us turned, injured and slightly singed, to face down the Player, I… believed. I believed, just for a moment, that we would win this one, that we were turning the tide of battle. I shouldn’t have thought it. I shouldn’t have dared to hope.

  Because at that moment, my mother joined the fray.