Jessie was a hundred yards from the portal when it broke.

Time-out breaks were uncommon, but the Governing Council still had a procedure for them. Her training took over. As the red portal began to spin and vibrate, Jessie ran. She needed to be at least two hundred yards away in the next minute and twenty-three seconds, because they had exactly that long before monsters started appearing.

The first monsters would be any that were near the portal. Breaks always prioritized those ones. But after that, it'd start grabbing monsters from anywhere and throwing them into the world. Those monsters would try to kill and kill, or they'd try to keep the portal delver-free so others could do the killing. Either way, GC reps and civilians needed to be nowhere near an active break.

The moment she hit two hundred yards out, she stopped, joints aching and breathing hard. A small part of her regretted all the PE classes she'd doctor's-noted her way out of. Her hands were on her suit's knees as she watched the portal stop spinning and double in size.

A shadowy demon with a massive sword stepped out, and two delver teams attacked it. Fireballs, acid clouds, and a steel cage all descended on the thing, and it died. But behind it was another, and another. The two teams weren't overwhelmed, but they were giving it their all; B-Rank auras pushed against Jessie, and she took another few steps back as she realized she was too close.

All she could do was watch, and as she watched, two thoughts bounced around her head.

First, Kade's team was definitely still fighting. They'd been through worse, and the portal had broken a lot faster than the average or expected break times for a B-Rank portal. It wasn't that they'd failed. They just hadn't succeeded yet.

And second, that the Traynor Guild's team wasn't outside of the portal fighting anymore.

The moment she realized that, she started looking for Representative Unger. As far as Jessie knew, the team hadn't been authorized to go in, and if any rep here knew what to do, it'd be him.

It was like Hell had boiled over.

Shadowy Hunter-Killers surged past us, not even bothering to attack as they shoved each other, lashing out in an attempt to be the first through the portal. A trio of Hellpits pulled themselves up the cliffside below the portal and tried to squeeze through. They shed Hellbats as fast as they could, clogging the sky. And Gemini Demons raced their own shadows through the red gate.

A dozen monsters got through.

Then, all at once, the flow clogged like someone had kinked a garden hose.

Five delvers stood a dozen yards from the portal, between the horde of monsters and the red gate—and the mage who'd stopped next to it.

The Lonely Mage.

And the Traynor Team.

I watched the Hunter-Killers hit the Lonely Mage's magical exclusion zone. Then they stopped. The one we'd killed hadn't stopped until we'd trapped it. I went to shout a warning, but before I could, the team's tank—the big Fritch twin—slammed a battle axe into the first Hunter-Killer Demon. It died after four hits.

It hit me. Ophelia St. Vrain was the counter we hadn't had. The one we needed. "Logan, you guys and us, let's kill these things!" I yelled.

"Way ahead of you," he said. And in the moment before his axe hit the monster again, I caught the pure, unreasoning fury in his eye, directed at me. And I realized that I didn't recognize the team's support.

Garrett Fritch was gone.

I didn't know where he was, or whether he was alive. All I knew was that he wasn't here, with his brother. But I'd seen that kind of anger before. Jeff had it sometimes, in the moments when I'd been sure he'd attack me on the convoy run, or in Carlsbad. And Logan wasn't a restrained, calm person like Jeff.

But we had bigger problems right now. Every monster in the portal wanted to get past Ophelia, and she was…she was B-Rank? When had that happened?

It didn't matter. We needed to let some of the pressure off of her. Right now, she was a cork in the bottleneck, but that'd only last until her Mana ran out.

I charged the nearest, temporarily-stunned Hunter-Killer Demon. It was already starting to recover. Shadowy, shapeless mist welled up around its body, but its eyes were locked on Ophelia, and for all the hate and anger Logan's face had shown, it paled in comparison to the monster's glare.

I cast Lightning Chain, jerked the monster off its feet, and dashed toward it. It started to fade into nothingness, and I lashed out with Shade Scythe as the gap closed. Then I dropped into a one-handed thrust—I had no time to two-hand my sword. The blade caught the monster an inch below its eyes just as the shadow passed its mouthless chin.

The Hunter-Killer screamed. Its massive sword went up, then down. I ripped my dueling blade from its head, staggered backward, and grunted as the serrated sword crashed into my Stormsteel breastplate. It left a gap in the storm and a gouge across the steel, and drove me to a knee.

But when it swung again, I was ready. I Flashstepped away with my last Lightning Charge, landing behind a second demon—this one a Gemini. Its human-like legs thrashed as it brought the six spiked, insectoid ones around.

I didn't give it time. I launched into a stop-thrust even as my off-hand fired a handful of Ariette's Zephyrs into the hulking, D-Rank monster. It outlasted the first stab, but not the second and third—and not the five spells that burrowed holes in its body. Then I whirled and parried its shadowy clone before killing it.

The Hunter-Killer wasn't done, though. Its face healed quickly, shadowy semi-flesh pouring into the gap I'd cut. I readied myself.

When it attacked, though, it wasn't at me. It surged toward Ophelia, slammed against her exclusion zone, and bounced off, stunned again.

This time, I didn't let it recover—or any of the enemies near it. I consumed the Wind Charge I'd gotten from casting, then used Howling Gale with a two-handed grip. The wind echoed my assault, slicing into the assembled horde of demons. Some died.

Others died to Ellen's Shadow Shapes. A lot of others. She was burning her Mana at an insane rate, and I couldn't loan her more; I needed it for my own fights. Jeff and Raul had found a pack of Gemini Demons clustered around a Hellpit and, with one of the Traynor delvers, they were attacking it. The fight was chaotic. Blades and spells flew everywhere.

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But it was under control. Ophelia had checked the monsters. Their instinct to kill, kill, and kill more worked against them. They knew that if they could make it through the red portal, they'd find plenty of victims.

If they'd fought back, they could have overwhelmed us even with both teams at the portal. Instead, they only fought when we attacked them. Their only goal was to overwhelm the Lonely Mage and break out.

It took almost ten minutes. We were completely drained and covered in half-healed cuts, bruises, and gouged, jagged bites. So was the Traynor team. Demon bodies lay across the stony peninsula, and blood slicked the rocks.

And Ophelia still stood in front of the portal, her exclusion zone still up.

"Well…" She trailed off, breathing deeply and raggedly. "Well, this is…awkward."

Logan Fritch spoke first. His massive axe hung from his hand as he glared at me. "What did you do to us?"

I blinked. As far as I knew, I hadn't done anything. But as I stared at Logan and he sent waves of fury at me—along with barely-contained pressure from his aura—I looked at their team again.

Patty stood behind Felicia—healer and tank. They were both still C-Rank. Ophelia was at B, and she looked incredibly shaky as she maintained her spells around the red, B-Rank portal. Xander was C-Rank, too, as was their new support.

But Logan…Logan was B-Rank. A fresh B-Rank. And his face was just as pale as Ophelia's. His hand wouldn't stop shaking. And the fury was mixed with something else. Pain.

It was happening. It had already happened. The Traynor team was starting to succumb to the speed of their growth.

Instead of answering his question—there wasn't an answer I'd accept if the situation was reversed and Jessie's core was broken—I asked one of my own. "Is he still alive?"

Logan didn't answer.

Ophelia did, though. "We don't know. He's in the hospital right now. Nonresponsive. Brain is still signaling, but it's like it's cut off from his body."

"And the rest of you? Do you all have instability?" I asked.

This time, none of them answered. Three—Patty, Logan, and Felicia, all looked at the ground, though. Ophelia didn't.

Good enough. "I know exactly what's wrong with your team. I can't fix it. No delver can. Garrett's on his own—hopefully he'll recover. But I can tell you how to avoid having your own cores break. You have to stop—now. Not forever. A couple of months. That's all it'll take. Trust me."

Ophelia cleared her throat to say something, but before she could, Logan screamed in rage and pain. I'd heard Jessie make the same sound—I'd even made it myself—but I'd never been the target of it. His aura slammed into me a split second later. "Liar! Mr. Traynor said—"

"My dad lies, not Kade!" Ellen yelled.

But it was too late. I knew it was too late even as the man with the massive axe rushed me. Logan wasn't my enemy. I didn't want him dead. But he wouldn't stop until we had this fight. I could tell. "Let me handle it," I said calmly.

Then I let the battle trance take over, and the world was just Logan, his axe, my sword, and the edges of our battlefield—the narrow, connected end of the peninsula, the sheer drops into the abyss below, and Ophelia's still-running exclusion zone.

Logan was bigger. Stronger. His weapon had more reach. He out-ranked me. And he was powered by fury and grief. His axe was one threat. Another was his aura. But if he got a hold of me, he could probably kill me with his raw strength.

And I couldn't kill him. He had to survive the fight. He had to give up.

I dropped into Mistwalk stance, one hand back and sword in front of my body, and sidestepped his charge, then parried his axe. "Logan, listen to—"

The axe cut toward my face. He wasn't messing around. I used both of my new Rainfall Charges for Mistform, then let his weapon and body smash through me before I reformed. "Okay. You don't want to listen."

My stance shifted. I cast Lightning Chains and pulled. He was off-balance from his two-handed swing. I should have pulled him over. Instead, he stayed planted, and I flew through the air toward him.

Darkness. I dropped it on him as his axe sliced through the air. The superheated strike pushed air aside; it collapsed into the gap with a thunderclap. But the blow hadn't hit me.

"Kade, stop!" Sophia yelled.

But I couldn't stop. Logan wouldn't. He rushed me, axe back and shoulder lowered. I waited. My stance shifted. One second. Two. He hit the Darkness again, and I sidestepped. The axe slammed into the rock where I'd been standing hard enough to shake the peninsula.

I checked my resource levels.

Stamina: 103/390 (+10), Mana 95/500 (+10)

For a B-Rank monster, I was fine. For the fight I was in, I wasn't. Taking out a delver—without killing him—was a tough challenge. "Logan, I can help you. I've been through this!"

The axe crashed down. I got my sword up and pushed it aside with everything I had, but it still opened up a cut across my calf as it came down.

He screamed in rage. His axe came up again.

And I shifted stances. Thunderbolt Forms was the wrong answer. It was pure aggression. I needed to wear him down. But I didn't have any other options.

So, as he opened his body, I used Thunderblade. Then Rain-Slicked Blade. Then I went on the offensive.

With both Thunderbolt effects running, my dueling blade ripped into the Traynor delver, cutting through his armor like it wasn't there. Then it did it a second time, and a third, before the Rain-Slicked Blade's armor-piercing fell off.

The axe slammed down. I took the blow with my Stormsteel gauntlet. Then I kept swinging. Five more cuts—all to his arms and legs. Thunderblade wore off, and I shifted back to my defensive Mistwalk Forms.

I took a step back. Then another. Distance was safety, and I needed the time to see what I'd accomplished.

Logan was bleeding from stab wounds. Three of them, all to the stomach. His eyes stayed locked onto me, and his aura slammed me into the ground—along with the other C-Rankers in the area.

But when he moved in to take advantage, he collapsed. I pushed myself to my hands and knees, sword squeezed in a white-knuckle grip. His left leg was completely destroyed. I'd targeted every joint I could hit. So was his right arm.

I unsummoned Tallas's Dueling Blade. Logan glared at me, and I took a few breaths to force the battle trance away.

None of the other Traynor delvers had moved. Ophelia still had her exclusion zone up. But Sophia did. The moment Logan's aura cut off, she dashed toward him, hand pressed into the blood pouring from his stomach. "Jeeze, Kade, you couldn't have gone easier on him?"

"I tried," I said, "But there was never going to be another way. Now, will the rest of you please listen?"

It took almost ten minutes to explain. The whole time, Sophia and the Traynor team's healer, Patty, worked on Logan, stabilizing him and then patching his injuries. By the time I was done with my story—leaving out the God of Thunder, but detailing everything else as best I could—he was almost back to normal.

And Ophelia stood by the portal, Mana pouring out of her as she kept her spells up. The sheer amount of energy she'd put into the exclusion zone already was formidable. It put both Ellen and me to shame. But it was obviously taking a toll.

"So…so what do we do…now?" she gasped between breaths.

Xander stared at her for a second. Then he looked toward Logan.

The big tank coughed. His glare fell on me, and I stared back, hands at my sides, but dueling blade only a split-second away. After a second, his gaze dropped. "I don't know. We have a portal to clear, though."

"Are we in shape to clear a B-Rank portal?" the team's fighter asked.

"Yes, Felicia." Logan coughed. A little pink splattered across his face, but he wiped it away like it wasn't there. "We have two teams. That's twelve delvers. If we can't clear this portal—"

Ophelia screamed.

Her spells collapsed. So did she.

And another team entered the portal, pushing right into the exclusion zone like it wasn't even there. I stared at the bands on their arms—and the cartoon roadrunners on them. Then at the woman in the lead.

"Attention, Traynor and independent teams. By virtue of Phoenix's emergency protocols concerning high-rank breaks, the Roadrunners' local strike team is taking over this portal. You have five minutes to evacuate. Your teams will be compensated for their efforts," Deborah Callahan said.

Her gaze lingered on me. I stared back for a second, and in that second, I felt her hatred, anger, and…greed? Then she started walking down the peninsula toward the cave, looking over her shoulder. "Get out of here, Kade Noelstra. This portal is the Roadrunners' problem now."

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