Annabeth grabbed Wyatt’s arm. “Come on, we have to go.”

  He shook his arm free, staring down at what was left of Instructor Plight. Dozens of holes pierced his body, Wyatt’s own doing. He hadn’t wanted to kill the Angel, but he’d been left with no choice. But that’s not what drew his attention now. A card hovered atop the dead angel’s chest, and a new notification had appeared. He pocketed the card to look over later and gave the notification his attention.

  Harvestable Divinity detected.Absorb now?

  With a mental prod, golden energy seeped from Instructor Plight into Wyatt. He could feel the energy settling somewhere within him. Instructor Plight’s body crumbled to ash, whatever magic that had kept it together, even in death, now absorbed by Wyatt.

  You received 20 Divinity.

  As much as he wanted to, now was far from the appropriate time to look at what his Class had changed. He turned to Annabeth and weakly gestured toward the simulation chamber’s door with one of his daggers, not daring to release the card’s activation. In the short time it took for them to cross the chamber to the door, his body already started healing. Whatever change had occurred within him had changed him in many ways.

  Two things happened when he stepped into the hall. Body Reinforcement and Enhance Durability solidified in his card holder then, giving him some reassurance that he might be able to survive the incursion, and another notification appeared.

  Harvestable Miasma detected.

  Absorb now?

  The hall flooded with the tainted energy, and it was his for the taking. Wyatt had mixed feelings about that, but it only made sense. He’d become some amalgam of Gabriel and Asmodeus. If he could absorb Angels, why should he not be able to absorb Devils?

  Hesitantly, he nudged the prompt with an affirmative. Just as with Instructor Plight, the energy keeping the Devils whole entered him and left behind nothing but ash.

  You received 87 Miasma.

  “What…?” Annabeth stared at him, her eyes wide. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, then tutted. “You have a lot of explaining to do after we find a way out of this hellhole.”

  “So do you.” His voice came off harsh and accusatory, causing him to wince at how it grated on his own ears.

  She paled. But instead of outright refusing, she gave a short, uncertain nod. “Okay…”

  When they stepped out of the Applications building and saw the state of things, Wyatt turned to her and grimaced. “You sure you don’t want that greatsword?”

  Annabeth ignored him and raised her hand, red flames, unlike what she used against Instructor Plight, forming into a large fireball.

  “Is that the only thing you can cast?” he asked, turning his attention to the charging Devils. They were basic fodder, Lesser Ghouls, and individually wouldn't pose a threat. But they swarmed across Demer, at least a dozen rushing toward them.

  His modified Body Reinforcement and Enhance Durability activated. The strength from Body Reinforcement flooded through him. It by far exceeded anything he’d experienced before. He could feel his skin harden, too. Thicken like steel.

  Annabeth’s fireball flew past Wyatt as he stepped forward. As he raised his daggers to strike the Lesser Ghouls, a tsunami crashed over the incursion portal and flooded the center of Demer. It slipped right past Demer’s defenders, then froze.

  Like Demer needs more ice. Despite his sarcastic thoughts, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as dozens of figures crossed the campus from its entrance, beelining toward the Incursion. Reinforcements had finally arrived.

  “Took them long enough.” Annabeth crossed her arms and watched the Meven Empire’s emergency response team with poorly hidden awe.

  Wyatt… didn’t know what to do now. His blood still rushed through him, and his recently activated cards desperately wished to show off their new power. But aside from throwing himself into an incursion, which would be the same as suicide. And he was many things, but suicidal did not happen to be one of them.

  Instead of doing anything rash, he slumped back against the wall of the Applications ability and let the cards fade. The daggers fragmented into gray mist, their power fading as the card became inert, and the layers of strength from his two enhancement cards sloughed off him.

  He drew closer to himself. Now that the adrenaline began to wear off, Demer’s mountainous chill returned in full force. Considering the state of his clothes, he desperately wanted to get back to his room and change, not that the blood and layers of ash clinging to his skin like mud didn’t also call for a long, hot shower.

  And after his Class Trial, sleep didn’t sound too bad. The stockpile of notifications still waited to be addressed, but that could wait for when he had some privacy and his reactions wouldn’t tell everyone rushing about that something strange was going on. Right now, the best thing he could do was to avoid drawing attention to himself as much as he could.

  Sliding down to sit on the ground, Wyatt watched as the guildies quickly organized Demer. Amongst the reinforcements, the largest groups came from three guilds. From the looks of their heraldry, they likely ranked as middling guilds local to the Meven Empire, those that found some success within Riacore but mostly focused themselves with operations on this side of things. Crafting, trade escorts, farming cheap cards for upgrades, and plenty of other support roles that made up the backbone of most countries.

  Important, but boring.

  Other groups arrived after, some bearing insignias of the Meven Empire on the shoulders, others bearing a wide assortment of heraldry. Things became chaotic as the groups began to establish the hierarchy of operations.

  Wyatt couldn’t be bothered with paying attention to political influence measuring contests and lowered his gaze to stare at the ground.

  “Those first three are likely guilds from Cynal,” Annabeth said as she carefully lowered herself to the ground. He caught her wince and the hand over her stomach. After feeling the power behind the Angel’s attacks himself, Wyatt would bet money on her having bruises for days. Once she got comfortable, she gestured toward the tagalongs. “Those are likely adventurers or reserves from smaller guilds.”

  “They’re all small guilds,” he muttered, thinking of the army Demiurge had fronted. Thousands of members strong, all with at least a second tier, if not third tier Classes.

  “I wonder who cast that tsunami. Was it a single skill, or did a second caster freeze it after all of the Devils were swept up in it? And what rank?” she mused, chewing the inside of her cheek as she twirled a lock of her red hair idly.

  “Had to be a Paired casting. Probably Epic, or a very upgraded Rare.” He thought of Cameron’s Paired cards. With everything he had learned from Gabriel, bitterness filled him. Everything had been a lie, and Wyatt couldn’t find it in himself to grieve for an illusion. Not when the deepest part of himself where his summons had resided still ached from their absence.

  Annabeth picked up on his shifting mood and rested a comforting arm on his shoulder. “What happened in there?”

  Wyatt opened his mouth, then snapped it closed when the sound of books across snow and ice approached. When he looked up, three members of the guild that must have received their sector approached. “We’ll talk about it after. We have a lot to talk about.”

  She didn’t answer, only nodding. They waited for the guild members to approach.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  As the group approached, the only man in their trio waved. From the look of his salt and pepper beard, he was likely older than Wyatt had been in his past life. Taller than Wyatt by a head with broad shoulders, he loomed over Annabeth and Wyatt. A thick hammer hung from a loop in his belt, and the shape of a shield rested across his back. He struck an imposing figure, even if his wide smile ruined the image. His loadout was rather unusual, given Manifest cards took away the need for carrying equipment. “Are either of you in need of healing?”

  “We’re okay,” Annabeth answered.

  Wyatt rolled his eyes. “She took a bad hit to her stomach. A brute got her good. Might have some broken ribs.” Wyatt grinned as Annabeth shoved him. She gave a pained hissed from the exertion. “See? You need healing.”

  “I’m not going to die from a little bruising,” she refuted, glaring at him. “Instead of healing me, they can go save someone else who might be dying.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that.” The man threw a thumb over his shoulder. “When it comes to incursions like this, it’s standard to bring additional healers. There’s plenty of us running around.”

  One of them, a girl a few years older than Annabeth, crouched beside her, gently pressing a hand against Annabeth’s abdomen. She winced, letting out a small hiss from the pressure.

  “You got hit pretty good,” the girl muttered, her voice softer than the first who’d called out. “I’m Meriam, by the way. We’re from The Final Hope.”

  Wyatt couldn’t help himself. “Why’s your heraldry of a child?”

  The man pulled the tabard across his chest up to get a good look at it, then raised a brow at Wyatt. “What’s wrong with children?” He leaned forward, his eyes peeling. “What’s up with your eyes?”

  Another hard thud. “Cantus, quit being rude.” The third member of their merry band glared at Cantus, then turned her attention to Wyatt, flinching when she saw his eyes. “Actually, I have to agree. Your eyes are wicked.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Neither of them had tried to kill him yet. That was a good sign. He jammed his thumb toward the entrance to the Applications building. “There are more students inside. Many are burned, and all of them are shaken from the attack.”

  “Sasha,” Cantus said, turning to the third member, “can you ensure the building is secure and check to see how critical the student’s conditions are. If they’re too bad to move, we’ll need to request support.” He turned to Wyatt. “About how many are there?”

  “About a dozen, possibly more. I didn’t get a good count.” Phantom pain from his cheek throbbed as he thought of Malcolm and Luka. In a moment, Sasha disappeared into the building, Wyatt watching her go, wondering if he should have gone with. After he considered how things went not too long ago, Wyatt turned his attention to Cantus. “What’s the policy for something like this anyway?”

  “Something like this?” Cantus asked, scratching the back of his head and looking around.

  Meriam scoffed. “This doesn’t happen. Demer’s wards cover the entire mountain range. They extend down to Cynal, which is why reinforcements took so long to come up this way. Guild recalls take time, and mobilizing to create a wide enough net to cover any potential incursions takes even more time to mobilize. Given the war relays have been around for a few hundred, old strategies for incursion mitigation had to be dug up from archives,”

  “What she said.” Cantus shook his head. “Whoever did this better hope they didn’t survive the incursion, ‘cause from what I heard before leaving Cynal, the Church of Light inquisitors will be arriving to investigate. Likely in a couple hours.”

  Wyatt sucked on his teeth. Gabriel had mentioned the church, and Wyatt had a good feeling they were no friends of his.

  Annabeth tensed beside him. “What are we supposed to do once I’m healed?”

  “Hard to say. Those of us from the guild are only here as a relief effort.” He tilted his head toward the Meven officials. “Might try asking them.”

  Annabeth would likely need to do that. The last thing Wyatt wanted to do was talk to anybody who had a chance of recognizing his eyes. He didn’t want to spend his second life imprisoned.

  Meriam rose from her spot. “That’s as good as I can do. There will likely be some stiffness, but no more internal bleeding. One of your ribs broke from whatever struck you, and I fixed that too.”

  “Thanks,” Annabeth muttered quietly.

  Their third, Sasha, returned. “Place is clear, and there’s a whole group of them in there. Gonna need a couple more healers. They’ve got a few student healers, but it’s patchwork. Most of them are burned badly.”

  “Can they move? Might be easier to have them relocated.”

  She looked down at Wyatt and Annabeth, then shook her head. “These two seem like they’re from the same class. Given the mess in there, it’s impressive they’re moving at all.” She winked. “Might be worth having them come by the guild building after they get their licenses to delve.” Then she schooled her face. “I’m not one to pry into things, but the dead teacher in there…” Her aura changed, buzzing with lethal energy. Sharp, pressed against Wyatt’s throat like a blade. “The two of you couldn’t possibly be the ones that brought down the ward, right?”

  Of course they’d find Instructor Plight’s body. Wyatt wracked his brain for an explanation that would make sense, but nothing he thought of would make them look innocent, so he went with the truth. “He attacked us.”

  “It’s like he was possessed,” Annabeth added, looking between the guildies as she spoke. “We tried to reason with him, but he kept attacking.”

  “No way it’s possession,” Sasha said with another shake of her head. “Angels don’t get possessed. It’s why the church often finds ways to incentivize their deployment to high value areas. They’re notoriously resistant to mental and spiritual attacks.”

  “Ah, the residential angel.” Cantus’ hand subtly fell to his warhammer’s hilt as Meriam took a step back. “That does complicate things.”

  Well damn. How many people knew Instructor Plight was an Angel? Even in his last life, he’d never known about Angels being so prevalent. Gabriel had said something about them becoming hidden protectors of Eyanora, isolated, reclusive even. This wasn’t that though.

  The silence lingered on, the tension growing by the second. If he didn’t figure out how to placate the trio, they’d likely apprehend him, maybe Annabeth too, to be handed off to the church or Meven’s officials.

  “I swear we were only defending ourselves. I knew nothing about the warding grid.” Wyatt could see his words didn’t convince them any. “Look,” he said with a sigh, an idea forming, “what happened is… personal. Not what you’re thinking.”

  “It’s in your best interest to make the situation very clear,” Cantus said, his voice calm yet body ready to strike them down on the spot if they tried anything.

  Wyatt took a deep breath, wracking his brain. It didn’t seem like anything but the truth would cause them to budge, so as much as it pained him, he recounted a modified version of his Class Trial.

  “When I entered, it was nothing like what I heard about. No shop of cards, no following trial that allowed me to select my Class.” He paused, thinking of everything Gabriel had told him. They didn’t need to know it, so he further abridged the story. “A cloaked Angel told me I was the vessel of the Great Seraphim, an instrument of righteous opportunity that would issue in a new era, told me I had no choice in the matter.”

  Cantus’ hand left his hammer, and Sasha’s threatening aura faded from Wyatt’s neck. They both shook their heads, and Sasha spoke first. “They… do have a tendency to be pushy with those kinds of things.”

  “This happens often?” Wyatt growled, his opinion of the Angels falling deeper the more he learned.

  “Ever had a conversation with the Church of Light?” Meriam asked, frowning. “Because if you haven’t, I don’t recommend starting now.”

  Cantus grunted in affirmative, then sighed. “So you refused, got a Class that branded you a traitor, and the local Angel came to strike you down?”

  “You’re a lot smarter than you look,” Annabeth said with a grin.

  “He may look like a brute, but he’s pretty quick on the uptake when it’s important. Otherwise he’s just a brute,” Sash said, flashing a playful grin at her guildie.

  “And you can verify his story?” Meriam asked, steering the conversation back to the situation at hand.

  Annabeth pointed toward Wyatt’s chest, indicating the pale white scars and ripped clothes. “I was with him the whole time. Those are from where the instructor impaled Wyatt the moment he threw the door open. He didn’t give us a chance to speak the whole time.”

  The trio shared looks between themselves, then Cantus shrugged. “As long as you didn’t sabotage the relay, the church’s affairs are no particular concern of ours. Having said that, the church and Meven are pretty buddy-buddy. I’d recommend you two getting away from Demer as soon as possible.”

  Meriam chimed in next. “While incursions like this don’t usually happen, the fact it’s a result of sabotage and Devils were involved, both the empire and church will be investigating. Keep what you’ve told us to yourselves.”

  “And seriously, come visit The Final Hope. We have a branch in Cynal that’s always looking for more talent.” Sasha turned to Cantus. “I doubt the students inside will be moving anytime soon. I'll go request an additional healer so Meriam doesn’t overexert herself and end up rolling around on the ground from Ichor fatigue again.”

  “Hey, it doesn’t happen that often!” The way her cheeks made Wyatt believe, yes, it did happen that often.

  Sasha disappeared back the way they’d come, and the remaining duo said their farewells before stepping into the Applications building.

  Wyatt pushed himself to his feet and dusted himself off. “That went better than I expected it to.”

  “Lucky for us.” She rose, no longer holding her midsection and trying to hide how much pain she was in. “So how are we doing this?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Escaping Demer, obviously.”