One-Shot Jerry fired a chaos bolt directly at Hector from close distance.

There was no dodging it.

His tangle of half-formed cables, directly between them, lit up brilliantly.

A crash of thunder.

Hector was thrown away. He sat up, coughing, blinking his eyes. Miraculously unharmed. The mess of cables he'd made was falling apart, still visibly glowing as he felt his domain perform the transformation of chaos into cosmic energy.

Jerry had been tossed aside as well. He returned to his feet with a quizzical expression on his face. The hunter stalked forward, head tilting first one way, then the other. "What an odd creature you are, Hector. I was going to take your core because your weakness offended me. Now… now I think you are a worthy prey. That makes no difference in your outcome."

Hector wove cables rapidly, preparing to perform the same feat again. He was nowhere near as proficient using his insight through his domain as his externality, but he was willing to try anything in the grip of desperation. Learning he had a chance at surviving this encounter had kindled his desire to live into a raging bonfire.

Jerry raised his hand once more. "I'm going to use a bigger bolt this time," he warned.

The next instant, One-Shot Jerry's head exploded.

Hector's eyes followed the concussive trail back to the man who launched the final chaos bolt of the battle. Darius came forward unsteadily, lines of blood extending from a head wound like a gruesome crimson spiderweb.

The eunuch collapsed to his knees beside Jerry, pulled out a knife, and began sawing.

"Don't tell me you eat cores now," Hector said.

"His I do." Darius scowled down at the body as he sawed away at enhanced flesh. "He wanted to consume us, so he will fuel my advancement instead."

"I thought you ran away like the maidens."

Darius's features went still for a moment. "I may be upset with you, Hector, but the two of us…. I wasn't going to let you die." The core came free, a flattened marble full of cosmic energy, and Darius studied his prize only a few seconds before plopping the thing, still enmeshed within bloody viscera, straight into his mouth.

"Are you ready to go, then? Or do you want to eat the rest of this human body?"

Darius shook his head. "I am not returning with you, Hector. I can grow strong in Stein."

Hector's heart stopped. "You have a life on Union Central. You are Dungeon Master, remember? You have friends. And Esther! What about her?"

Darius thumped a fist against his lower abdomen. "What about Esther? I'm a mutilated freak, Hector. Playing hero on an unempowered world will never let me grow strong enough to face the Lord General. I have to be here on Tian."

"This is going to break Riley's heart, you know."

Darius sniffed. "If you ever free her from the clutches of the lords, I might feel guilty."

"What about me? Would you go back to Union Central for my sake?"

"You, Hector? You leave for your own missions. Why should I be denied the same right?"

Hector grimaced. "Your mission is suicide, Darius. I don't want you to die."

Darius cleaned his blade, sheathed it, and wobbled his way back to his feet. "You are a better man than my father ever was. Sadly, I am not. Fare well, Hector."

Too much had happened in too short of a time. He'd encountered Darius and Jerry at the burgermeister's ball. He'd made a frantic trip to retrieve a poison that ultimately he never used. He'd gone sleepless two nights in a row. He'd fought a tense battle. He'd discovered things about his externality and his domain. He'd survived. And now he'd lost one of his closest friends.

Hector could only watch speechless as Darius limped away into the distance. His heart felt like it seized up tight within his chest as he wondered if he would ever see Darius again. The difficult friend always ready with a scowl and a criticism. The third part of their trio who cared more about them than he could ever express. The brave and competent warrior. The child who had been mutilated to spite the man that Hector remembered being.

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He stretched out his domain to devour the ambient chaos introduced by the fierce battle, wiping away tears and wishing he could have had at least a moment to celebrate his new discovery before everything came crashing down. He'd discovered his path to defeating chaos bolts. Maybe he'd never be able to throw one of his own, but if he became immune to them then it wouldn't really matter.

It was an open question if he could have endured a stronger bolt from Jerry. He suspected the first one had been intended to maim. A nice gut shot to torment a helpless victim. At least the outcome of this battle ensured no one else would ever fall due to Jerry's sadism.

For now, the question was what could he do to advance his mission?

The answer was obvious. He needed to bring Cleo to Rags so that she could sniff around for traces of tea while he collected stone from the devastated city for the cosmic chamber. Hector collected the vial of cyanide from the ground, stepped into his waiting transit sphere, and returned to Union Central. He arrived directly to the communal space of his own floor so he wouldn't have to see Esther or Wayne. Having failed to bring back Darius stung and he wasn't up to sharing those details with anyone quite yet.

He showered, laundered his Stein clothes, and checked his messages. Not only was Cleo interested in his negotiated terms, she was ready to leave immediately for that much money. Perhaps she expected him to negotiate a lower rate. If so, his desperation was to her benefit.

Hector sent a response to the sensory savant coordinating a time to meet up and left to purchase camping supplies for two people. Packs, tent, sleeping bags, food, water filter, flashlights, and so on. If he was going to bring an Arahant to Tian, he didn't see any reason to limit their gear to items that could pass as local. Especially since Cleo lacked his extreme durability. She wouldn't be harmed by water infused with cosmic energy, but parasites or toxins would be a serious problem for her. Their food and water had to be rendered safe enough for an unempowered physique – which is what Arahants had, more or less. He also couldn't expect Cleo to skip meals without impacting her mission readiness.

Back in the lobby with all of his gear, he finally had to face Esther.

"No Darius or Riley?"

"I'm still working on Riley."

She arched a brow. "And Darius?"

"He prefers to remain on Tian."

Esther's expression grew dark. "That sounds foolish."

"Be that as it may, I couldn't exactly force him into my transit sphere."

"Did the poison work as expected?"

Hector sighed. "Let's not talk about the poison. I invited a guest to Tian Tower. She will need permission to join me in the basement."

"The basement?"

"I'm taking the stone blocks away and bringing replacements."

"And your guest is going to help with the loading?" Esther crossed her arms.

"My Arahant guest is going with me to Tian to help me locate something. I can't leave her on the Xian home world in my absence, so she will be coming back and forth with me. If you don't give her permission, then the stone blocks have to wait at least two more weeks."

A dangerous glint came into Esther's eyes. "An Arahant on Tian? You have taken a lot of liberties with the safety of others lately, Hector. Maybe instead of worrying so much about 'doing good' you should focus on not exposing people to risk."

The criticism felt more valid than he cared to admit. He had to do whatever it took to get Riley back, though. Keeping Cleo safe would be a priority during their travels together, but he couldn't avoid all risk to her if he wanted to right his previous wrong. Hector chose to justify his actions in a different way to Esther – one that would resonate with her values. "I am paying this woman extremely well for taking on the risk."

"Well, good. She should be properly compensated."

Hector mimed typing at the air. "Do I need to do anything?"

"No. The System hears all. When the person you invited shows up, the fact that we had this conversation will clear her to enter and go to the basement."

The pervasive nature of the System still caught him off guard at times. It was convenient as hell, but also more than a little concerning whenever he took a moment to ponder the implications. Orwell's Big Brother looked like an amateur in comparison to the surveillance on Union Central.

While he was waiting, Hector made the familiar gesture to get a sense of his recent progress.

Survey Results

Type: Xian

Level: 6

Body: 5

Mind: 5

Aura: 4

Domain: 3.6

Energy Reserves: 51%

His body statistic hadn't budged. Improving that number took six times the investment as the previous level, he knew. And the precision only went to the tenths place, so a lot of progress was hidden. Still. He felt like he deserved a bump in his number and it stung to not see it.

Cleo arrived with a duffel bag and received no warning messages when she entered. They rode down to the basement and Hector summoned his sphere. Then he used his cables to stack stone blocks inside until it was as close to capacity as he could get. They squeezed into the space he'd left for passengers with all their gear and sailed through the primordial.

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