Brivaria opened her eyes and lifted her wings to look around. The street had been blasted to bits. There was a massive chunk of the cobblestone road and dirt beneath missing. The buildings on either side were smashed in by the stones kicked up by the detonation. The watchman who’d led the charge had flown backward and rolled to a stop down the street. He was alive but in visibly bad shape. Those who’d been following behind him were better off and some had even had time to throw up defensive skills to mitigate the explosion. One man stood between Brivaria and the place the monster had been, clearly having moved to shield her from the blast.

  “What kind of magic was that?” she asked, looking over the carnage.

  “Mana disruption bolts. All guardsmen carry them in case of a combat classer attacking citizens. It seems that thing didn’t react well to them. Are you and your dog alright?” the guardsman asked, turning to look down at her and the golden hound. Trixie wuffed and Brivaria hugged the dog, thankful she was okay.

  “Yeah, we are. Wait, aren’t you…” the angel began to ask but then trailed off. It was the same guard who’d interviewed her after being attacked by Lucian and then after the Ogramite encounter.

  “Guardsman Talver, ma’am. This will be the third time I’ve been on-site for an incident with you. We might need to have a longer chat this time. I think the watch captain is going to want a word with you,” he admitted. Brivaria just sighed and nodded.

  “Brivaria, are you okay!?” Nyx said while running up to the winged girl. She knelt down and Trixie whined for attention. “Oh sorry Trixie, are you okay as well?”

  “Yeah,” Brivaria replied after a deep breath. Trixie barked in support. Kseniya and Giselle were right behind Nyx.

  “I was very worried. You flew off and then there was magic and loud sounds,” Giselle said while joining the angel on the side opposite Nyx. “Kseniya said you were fighting but not to follow.” Not to follow? Brivaria scrunched her face up in confusion.

  “We were down below. I asked Nyx to get the watch while Giselle and I kept pace. I am not climbing a three story building, you know? It would be best if Giselle doesn’t fight in the city for obvious reasons. We had the herd indicator so we knew you were doing well.” The sorceress coiled her tail under her as she spoke. While she was ostensibly talking to Brivaria, the angel could tell Kseniya was speaking more for the guardsman’s benefit.

  “And it’s a good thing you called us. We were already sending men into the building and up to assist when the fight moved to the street,” Guardsman Talver added while trying to be helpful. “If the thing did this much damage while being put down then it could have likely done far worse had we arrived a minute later. Do you know what that thing was?”

  “Not specifically,” Brivaria said after considering what words to use. It was one thing to willingly allow monsters from the Between into existence in a universe but something quite different to be… she wasn’t even sure. Was that a person that had a monster inside of him, a monster disguised as a person, or something else entirely. “They might be related to the other monsters we fought.”

  “Well, the other guys will take care of cleanup and whatever else needs to be done. Do you need any healing or assistance? The captain will want to talk to you sooner than later.” Brivaria channeled Healing Touch for Trixie’s sake but the dog was fine. She then shook her head.

  The walk to the Barton guard barracks wasn’t long and Guardsman Talver tried to make small talk. He was mostly successful and Brivaria learned that he was born in Barton. A scruffy kid with sandy-brown hair and a dose of freckles had grown up into a scruffy adult without losing any of the freckles. He had a friendly nature that Brivaria liked.

  Talver was also relatively new to the watch. That is, he had only recently been allowed to patrol without a more senior guardsman dedicated to being his partner. It was very unfortunate for him that not one, not two, but three separate incidents had occurred in his proximity over the past two weeks. The guard was stretched thin with the number of people in the city and, while no one else was dealing with hordes of roaming monsters, there were more than enough incidents for the city watch to handle every single day.

  The guardsman was in good spirits despite the dire effects their continued misfortune was having on his personal career in the watch. Soon they were outside the watch captain’s office, waiting while Talver had words with the head of the watch. The walls were thin enough and the captain loud enough that a little of the talk could be heard. It was not pleasant, near as Brivaria could make out. Talver came out looking more than a little harried by the conversation that had just taken place. He still managed to plaster a smile onto his face before addressing the group.

  “Your turn. Don’t take this the wrong way but hopefully we don’t meet again or, at least, not this way,” the guardsman said while stepping back and letting them enter the watch captain’s office.

  “The feeling is mutual,” the angel replied cheerfully. The two shared a laugh and then Guardsman Talver whispered a “good luck” to the group before they entered.

  The inside of the office was spacious as the watch captain clearly used this room for more than bureaucratic minutia. It had the amenities the angel was starting to become familiar with—desk, chairs, obligatory artwork designed to make the walls look less barren, and so on. There was no organized chaos nor stacks of paper anywhere about the room. It was neat, tidy, and devoid of all the usual clutter she’d started to associate with these places. The winged girl had gotten used to all of these offices being flush with things to avoid stepping on or tripping over.

  The captain was a large, muscular man who put Alden Porter to shame. Clearly the man did not spend all his time here. In his forties or fifties, at least, he cut an imposing figure clad in the armored, green and brown uniform of the watch. The brown beard hid his expression but the angel could hear the displeased note in the man’s voice as he spoke.

  “Please, take a seat or coil as you please. My name is Watch Captain Hudson and I have no interest in pleasantries. There’s been a fight between combat classers, a horde of monsters moving about in the city, and now yet another fight between combat classers. I read the report on the two prior incidents but now I need to know what’s going on. Why are adventurers fighting in my city almost daily?” The final question was harshly asked and he ran a hand through his short, neatly cut hair as he spoke.

  “It’s because you have a city watch and not a city guard. If you did more guarding and less watching then you wouldn’t have this problem,” Kseniya said smoothly without a hint of shame. You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.

  “Excuse you?” the man across from them said with a tone that was positively frigid. Kseniya matched his ire with a challenging stare. Brivaria had a feeling this was going to go very poorly, very quickly so she coughed to get his attention.

  “Let me tell our side of things…” the angel began and then launched into a recounting of their tale so far. Brivaria’s gentle explanation soothed some of the captain’s anger. The angel understood Kseniya’s hostility but now wasn’t the time to antagonize people. She wanted to go back to the inn, get something to eat, and rest. She didn’t want the captain to decide one of the empty jail cells could use some new residents for a night.

  “Your wings are a little small to be confused with Zenith Penrose’s,” the captain observed after Brivaria was done with her story.

  “I can make them bigger,” she said, a touch defensively.

  “And you think the mercenaries are grabbing citizens?” he asked, already speaking before Brivaria could finish her previous sentence. Nyx pushed her way into the conversation so it didn’t become an interrogation of the angel by herself.

  “We don’t ‘think’ anything. All we’ve heard is that people go into the woods and don’t come out. We haven’t had a chance to do any investigating with all the attacks but that seems like something your men should be looking into, not a group of passing adventurers,” the cat girl finished. Kseniya had an approving look in her eyes and the angel wasn’t certain that was a good thing.

  “I agree.” The man’s reply made them all pause. “My men are spread thin but I think that bears some scrutiny. In the meantime, I don’t want to hear about a fourth incident. I don’t want to see another fight in the middle of the city. Talver said no one was injured in today’s incident and you’re very lucky as I would otherwise be holding you responsible for it. I want you and your team to stand down and disengage by whatever means you possess, not pursue a conflict.”

  Brivaria’s wings drooped as he spoke. It had been such a lucky break to stumble on the assailant. Lucky was probably the wrong word. She was glad the man or whatever he was wouldn’t be a problem going forward. Between this meeting and possible ramifications of what that man’s presence could mean, the angel had a bad feeling. She looked down at Trixie. The golden’s head was on Brivaria’s thigh and she pet the dog’s soft fur.

  “What an imbecile,” came an unexpected voice. Brivaria looked up and saw Akashic sitting on the corner of the desk. The angel knew that only she could see and hear the demoness so she smiled wanly when Captain Hudson gave her a strange look. “When someone attacks you, you strike back. You find them and you kill them. You don’t disengage. You don’t run. You tear their head off or maybe their arms if you’re feeling charitable.” The demoness gave a disgusted sniff and disappeared.

  After being suitably chastised a little more, the group was shooed out of his office and given a guardsman to walk them back to their inn. Brivaria half expected Talver but it was a man she didn’t recognize. They remained quiet on the walk back and took a seat far off to the side of the Siren’s Alcove where they could at least pretend they wouldn’t be overheard while enjoying their meal. Kseniya activated the same privacy ward she’d used at the Fleece and Flagon once they were sitting down with their food.

  “That was intense,” Nyx commented.

  “I was not sure what to say. Do you fight many monsters like that in cities?” Giselle asked. Everything was new to the deer girl and she had little conception of what was and wasn’t normal. Brivaria was starting to lose track of those herself.

  “You’re not supposed to,” Nyx answered.

  “No, you’re not. Good job on keeping quiet, Giselle. The less he focused on you, the better,” Kseniya said with a fanged smile.

  “Is that why you picked a fight with him,” the angel asked. Kseniya smiled even wider.

  “My people are candid and sometimes quick to anger. I believe some would use the word ‘bitchy’ to describe my fellow lamia. It is not entirely incorrect. Sometimes I find it helps to play into the stereotype, you know? Someone in our group must be willing to take people to task for their actions. It will not be you, little angel, and your cute, cute doggy nor will it be Nyx as she is too young. Giselle is new to everything so it will not be her. Why should it not be me then? It is what people expect and it does amuse me from time to time,” Kseniya said at length, grinning the whole time.

  “So you’re not really as greedy as you pretend to be?” Nyx said with a cheshire smile of her own.

  “Watch it…” Kseniya warned and Nyx giggled.

  “Will he save the people going into the forest?” Giselle asked. “There are scary things in the forest like the Dread Paw. It’s possible there’s something out there hurting people that go too far in. I moved toward the city because I wanted to talk to people but also because I felt safer.” It took Brivaria a moment to realize the Dread Paw was the oversized bear monster she’d fought. Meanwhile, Nyx spoke up again.

  “Maybe? It would be nice if just telling the watch captain solved all the problems,” the cat girl admitted.

  “I think it will come back to haunt us,” the winged girl said with a mixed expression. Everyone looked at her so she clarified, “I still think Count Dancarlo knew what he was doing when he hired the mercenaries. I think he knew the truth about Giselle and some of the people who’ve gone missing likely did so at his whim. I also suspect that’s why he told Alden to pause his team’s efforts to get to the bottom of things.”

  “If that’s true,” Kseniya pondered aloud, “then why tell him about the forest disappearances? If he is part of the problem then our supervision…” Kseniya stopped talking as she considered it and Brivaria continued.

  “If he knows about the Count and is helping keep things quiet then it doesn’t matter. We’re not going back to the forest and won’t be doing anything to arouse suspicion in the near future. As long as we don’t interfere then I think we’re safe enough. However if he’s not with the Count then he may have something to say about what’s going on.”

  Brivaria dropped out of the conversation to finish eating when she noticed a suspiciously empty spot on her plate. Turning her gaze to the left, she saw Trixie’s head resting on the table. The dog’s big, brown eyes were looking away but Brivaria could see a little bit of gravy on the dog’s muzzle.

  “Ah! Trixie!” She began lightly scolding the dog and the rest of the meal was spent on happier subjects.

  That night everyone worked to clean their gear. They were cleaning their clothes and equipment when they could but the prospect of meeting with the nobility on the morrow meant they needed to look their best. Brivaria wondered if she could eventually use her decaying magic to remove stains on clothing in a way similar to how she purified water.

  Night came and Brivaria slipped out of the room she shared with Nyx and Giselle. Giselle was still choosing to sleep in her little deer form which was a problem but not one they needed to solve tonight. The common room of the inn was dark and empty. Brivaria shifted into her demonic, battle form as she made her way back to the table she’d sat at earlier. The familiar, dark shape of the demoness in her head manifested sitting across from her.

  “You can appear at any time?” Brivaria asked though it was more of a statement than a question.

  “Yes, I can. And we have levels to discuss,” the demoness replied. Sure enough, there were unread System messages.

  You have reached level 39.

  Gained +3 Physique, +1 Endurance, +3 Arcane, +3 Spirit, +1 Awareness, +3 Presence.

  Gained one new skill selection.

  Name: Brivaria

  Race: Angel

  Class: Apprentice Shaper of Flesh

  Level: 39

  Stats: Health 79/79, Mana 153/153, Stamina 104/104

  Attributes: Physique 65, Endurance 39, Arcane 52, Spirit 76, Awareness 39, Presence 80

  Active Skills: Current Control, Defensive Bulwark, Healing Touch, Wind Formation

  Passive Skills: Alternative Form, Flesh Sculpting, Infernal Seed, Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Lingering Decay, Natural Weapons, Rest, Traits (Angel, Demon)

  Magic: Light of Decay

  Affinity: Corruption, Decay

  Unspent Skill Points: 2