"Someone burned me right up with a beam of fire almost as soon as I spawned into the dungeon."

  Even in that moment of utter confusion and fear, Dot's words rang through Luke's skull when the flying Integrated appeared. Thin, pale, with a face full of acne scars, the Solarian was covered in sweat.

  Integrated Leslie. Solarian. Level 26.

  This was him. The bastard who'd hurt his friend and, judging by his level, had continued hurting others even outside the Tutorial Dungeon. Before, when Hannah caught the Integrated who fell through the air, they found a wound just like the one before him.

  "Lifeweaver!" Leslie shouted, coming up beside him. "What are you doing?"

  Luke offered up nothing more than a glare as he set to climbing up the dragon's leg, hoping to escape wild, flailing limbs and the resumed spellweave about to unleash another blast of fire.

  Leslie followed along, carried by flames appearing out of nowhere. "I need your healing!"

  Ignoring him, except to make sure Leslie didn't attack him, Luke made it up to the dragon's back. As he turned, fire erupted from the dragon, which had adjusted its long neck, mirroring The Dread Dragon Naxaramus's latest attack. Fire rushed up to Luke, but Leslie flew forward, placing himself in the way. Every speck of flame changed trajectory, as if sucked in by a huge vacuum, and ended up hitting Leslie.

  Using Weaver's Perception, Luke saw how the flames disappeared and turned into mana in the Solarian's meta-heart. A barrier of fire then expanded around Leslie. It didn't stop until it encompassed them both, cutting off the whipping wind. The flames were silent, and the heat was nothing more than a gentle warmth.

  Turning, Leslie shook his head. "There. Now, can we talk?"

  "What do you want?"

  "From what I've seen and read, you're usually not this rude. Perhaps it is the situation?"

  Luke shook his head, unsure how to react. "Like I said, what do you want?"

  "I have been searching for you and this other Lifeweaver I met a while back. Came all the way to Chicago and even entered this dungeon when I heard you had gone inside. I would have entered either way, of course, but still."

  "You knew I was in here? How?"

  Leslie shrugged. "I did my research."

  "You killed Dot."

  "Who?" Leslie asked.

  "Dorothy. You killed her in the Tutorial Dungeon."

  "She's the other Lifeweaver. Harder to find her, except for that Milly character's videos. Yes, I remember."

  "Why?" Luke asked, exasperated.

  This was not what he wanted to spend time on. Naxaramus was still out there and needed to be dealt with somehow before the monster decided to visit Earth.

  Confusion spread across Leslie's expression. "Why, what?"

  "Why did you kill her, of course!"

  "Experience is experience."

  "What?" Luke asked.

  "Death in the Tutorial Dungeon isn't real."

  "Not like the slow, drawn-out process of dying from Huntington's Disease."

  Leslie nodded. "You are perceptive."

  "I am."

  "Yes, I have Huntington's Disease," Leslie confirmed. "Can you help me?"

  "Have you killed anyone outside of the Tutorial Dungeon?" Luke asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Leslie regarded him for a long moment, his eyes empty, as if there was no spark behind them. When he answered, his voice had shifted a little to sound lifeless. "Yes."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "How many?"

  "Thirty-seven."

  Luke swallowed hard as the weight of what Leslie had just said crashed into him. This man was dangerous. Not just a murderer, but there was something wrong inside his mind, something other than the latent Huntington's. But all he could make himself say was, "Thirty-seven? Why?"

  "Experience."

  A chill went through Luke, and he couldn't help but shudder. This man belonged in prison. Thing was, no prison would be able to hold an Integrated, especially not one like Leslie, not even the guild's.

  "You get a ton of experience from Integrated. Monsters don't even compare."

  "But they're people. You're killing people!"

  Leslie stood there for a long while, looking right at Luke, his eyes void of emotion. The corners of his mouth twisted upward into what was perhaps supposed to be a smile, but it looked like something a robot might attempt, and didn't touch the rest of his face.

  "I'll stop if you heal me."

  "You're a killer," Luke said. "How am I supposed to trust you?"

  "I'll kill you if you don't heal me, then I'll go to Dorothy and give her the same offer."

  Luke worked his jaw, trying to unclench. "Bastard."

  This was an ethical challenge Luke didn't wish on anyone, much less himself. There was no doubt in his mind that Leslie would continue his rampage with or without healing. Still, one thing spoke in favor of healing the madman, the fact that it might cure him. Huntington's meant your genes were messed up, a genetic disorder. Not having much experience with the disease, Luke knew little more than the symptoms, which were life-altering, then life-ending, and that it manifested in the brain. Being an asshole killer was not a symptom, he didn't think, but whatever made Leslie like this had to originate from the same place, his brain. Mental illness. That had to be it.

  Weaver's Renewal might be able to fix that, too. It was a gamble.

  The other option was to kill Leslie. First, agree to the healing, then use that access to end the Solarian and his killing spree. It was straightforward and clean, in a way, but Luke wasn't sure he could just end a life like that. While he hadn't taken the Hippocratic Oath, he'd made a vow to himself to heal and help people. Luke wasn't such a fool that he thought killing Leslie meant he was just as bad as that mass murderer, but it still didn't sit right with him.

  "If I heal you," Luke began, taking a deep breath. "Will you turn yourself in to the cops?"

  Leslie didn't even need a second to consider the answer to that. "No."

  "But you won't kill anyone else?"

  A slight pause.

  "No."

  Bullshit.

  The dragon beneath their feet twisted and turned, but the barrier of fire kept them fixed to its back. Still, Naxaramus was getting farther and farther away with every second. Unable to see through the flames, it was impossible to tell where the other dragons were, but the two that still lived, other than the one they stood upon, had been close.

  Hannah: "I'm on the ground. Things aren't looking good here either. There's another Archfiend. Integrated are retreating."

  Hannah: "What is happening up there? Is there a chance you can deal with Naxaramus? If not, you'd better find your way down and out of this dungeon."

  Hannah: "There's talk of defending the portal from the Earth side. The military is massing outside. Apparently, they have a bunch of Integrated now, too."

  Luke: "There's a roadblock, but I'm dealing with it."

  The mention of the military gave Luke an idea. It was insane and dangerous beyond dangerous, but it might just work. He was not a gambling man, but this once, he'd have to toss the dice, play his hand, and whatever other metaphor he could think of.

  Luke: "I've got an idea for Naxaramus. Can you get to the mages again and tell them to put everything into a barrier around the keep when I say 'when'?"

  Hannah: "I've got the cloak and my shadows, so I should be fine to move about."

  Luke: "Tell me when you're ready."

  That was it then. He was out of time. Leslie still stood there, staring at him.

  "I'll heal you on one condition," Luke said.

  "What?"

  Pointing to the right for effect, Luke spoke in a hard, unrelenting voice. "You leave after. Not just Chicago, but the country. I never want to see you again."

  "That's fair," Leslie said, nodding.

  The bastard didn't even need a second to consider it. Weaver's Perception allowed Luke to sense the other man's heartbeat. It was slow and rhythmical. No fear there, no nervousness or anxiety. In that instant, Luke made his decision. This man would never stop unless someone forced him. An opportunity to do just that had presented itself now. If Luke squandered it, the ceaseless stream of deaths that followed would weigh on his conscience.

  "Give me your hand."

  Leslie reached out.

  "You'll have to deactivate that spell," Luke said. He hadn't seen the spellweave, but it was clear something was going on, a protective barrier of some kind. Even getting close to Leslie's skin with that still active would be a bad idea, and Weaver's Perception told Luke his Threads of Mana would have trouble punching through it.

  "Of course," Leslie said, and mana stopped pouring into the spell, telling Luke he'd deactivated it.

  "Huntington's affects your brain, so I will heal that. It might feel weird, but there should be no pain."

  Leslie breathed in and nodded. His pulse still told Luke the Solarian was in a complete state of relaxation. Cold-blooded bastard.

  Grabbing a murderer's hand was like touching any other. Luke wasn't sure why he'd expected different, but he had. Two threads of mana followed mana channels to Leslie's brain, while a third and a fourth moved to the physical heart and meta heart, and a fifth to the femoral artery in his left thigh.

  "Didn't you hear what I said before?"

  Luke opened his eyes and met Leslie's gaze, doing his best not to shudder at the emptiness inside. "Huh?"

  "I'll kill you and then find Dorothy if you don't heal me. Perhaps I'll visit your family as well. There are other Lifeweavers, Luke Quinn, and I can kill each one and make others pick the class until I find someone who will do what I asked."

  "I'm getting ready to heal you," Luke said.

  Fire sparked to life in Leslie's free hand. "I can feel you rooting around in my leg and chest."

  Damn.