Lexie frowned at the message, wondering what Shadow was trying to pull here.

Lexie: What do you mean?

Shadow: I mean exactly what I said. Don't trust him.

Lexie: Okay, but you understand that you can't just tell me that, with no context, and expect me to take what you said at face value.

Shadow took a few seconds to think about that one.

Shadow: He's a sneak.

Thanks, Shadow. That really clears it up.

Luckily, he didn't stop there.

Shadow: I followed him. That day, after we fought. I wanted to see exactly where he got his mechs from, and how he used them to beat me. I saw him meeting up with some shady characters.

He's probably talking about Oliver and the rest of the gang from Old Moulding.

Lexie: Well, he lives in Old Moulding, so he probably grew up with them.

Shadow: No. These weren't Old Moulding type of shady. They weren't punks, they looked like hardened villains. One of them has his eyeballs entirely black. The other one has dark magic runes tattooed on his arm. At first, I thought they were harassing Tate for money, but it felt more like he was working with them.

Lexie frowned and tried to think of who these people could be. Tate working with criminals wasn't far out of the realm of possibility, considering he had an alias for the finder. He was probably just doing business with them. Maybe they're the ones he stole the dungeon seal from?

Meanwhile, Shadow continued typing.

Shadow: That's not all. Sometimes the way he looks at you is really weird. At first, I thought he had a crush on you, like everyone else assumed. But during your first fight, when you beat Tank and everyone was cheering, he cheered at first too but for a split second, he looked pissed.

Lexie: I think that's just his face.

Shadow: I knew you wouldn't believe me. That's why I never said anything. Anyway, whatever, I've said my piece. Take it if you want. No one else sees that guy for who he is, and none of you want to listen to me.

Lexie: Probably because you've made it no secret since the beginning how much you don't like the fact that he's in the group. And you hated him even more for beating you. Are you going to tell me that isn't what this is about?

Rather than responding, Shadow chose to change the subject.

Shadow: That card you used on Diana, if you're not going to use it again, can I borrow it?

Lexie: I wish I could, but it's been confiscated.

Shadow: I thought so. You're really not going to fight anymore?

Lexie: Yeah, I'm not.

It took him a few seconds to respond.

Shadow: Shame.

That was the last message he sent, and Lexie spent the next few minutes puzzled by that bizarre text thread. What was that about?

Most likely, it was simply Shadow trying to mess up Tate's reputation in the group because he was jealous that Tate was doing better than he was. Yeah, that was almost certainly the case. But what if it wasn't? What if he was telling the truth? Who were those guys Tate was meeting?

She would ask Tate about it, but not now, since she didn't want to distract him from his upcoming fights or make him start a fight with Shadow. After it was over, she would ask.

Lexie put it out of her mind for now.

Urmas won his next battle.

Lexie knew because she managed to get herself to watch it, for research reasons, while avoiding the comment section. Urmas was facing off against a forcefield user who attacked and shielded with ultra-thin, sharp forcefields he could also turn into minor explosives. Urmas managed to avoid the attacks, but he was having a hard time getting a clean shot at the guy.

His leg glitched, and it nearly cost him when a force field almost exploded in his face.

"Use the card, Urmas," Lexie muttered, not knowing why he hadn't activated it already. Was he saving it? Now would be the best time to use it, as his leg had started acting up again.

Urmas suddenly went on the offensive, spraying his opponent with bullets and forcing them to throw up a forcefield. It was most likely just a distraction because Lexie saw him draw out the card and activate it. It took thirty-five seconds and a lot of concentration while shooting, but it was worth it.

Throughout the rest of the match, his balance was noticeably improved. The leg didn't glitch once, and Lexie saw the smile on his face as he moved with more confidence. He was faster, too, now that he didn't have to worry about triggering his leg. After about five minutes, Urmas executed a nice leap and aimed a shot right at his opponent's face, winning the game.

"Yes!" Lexie cheered with the audience. There were quite a few Urmas fans in the crowd, screaming and calling him 'Commander Twitch', but in an affectionate way.

Although Lexie hadn't expected it, she could understand why the audience liked Urmas. He had an amiable boy-next-door charm despite his deadly shooting skills, and though he was quiet and understated–or perhaps because of it–people were curious about him and his story. Unlike a lot of the competitors, he didn't peacock about and force himself to stand out. He wasn't showy with his fighting either, and his lack of attention-seeking behavior ironically got him more attention because of how refreshing it was. While Conrad and Tate remained the two most popular in the group and the division, Urmas was a sleeper hit and was soon becoming one of the favorites.

Urmas also won his next two fights in the weeks that followed, and every time Lexie watched him win, she felt like a proud mother or a scientist whose experiment had yielded favorable results.

Due to their dominance in the newbie exhibition matches, Conrad's group got interviewed by a local media team, and Urmas mentioned that his improvement was due to a very special friend, thankfully, leaving Lexie's name out of it.

Cara–who had unfortunately lost her last match against Lane of all people–also shouted out the same friend and winked at the PHORB. Lexie had to smile when she saw it and sent the video to Xena and Dewie, telling them the whole story of how she'd crafted Cara's card. They were too busy to reply much, but Lexie was still so happy. She thought about it that entire week.

However, Urmas' luck ran out in his next fight against Tate. This was at the quarter-finals, and the competition had been whittled down to Tate, Urmas, Shadow, Lane, Boris, Jan, Victor, and HighLow.

During the fight, Tate was ruthless, not only forcing Urmas to exert himself by dodging Tate's close-combat attacks, but also mostly targeting Urmas' leg. Urmas had activated the card from the beginning of the fight, but the second he attempted to reactivate the card, Tate threw his dagger, and it sent a mana pulse that inactivated the card.

Lexie was confused. She didn't know that was possible, but she then recalled that he was able to break Shadow's hold using a similar technique. The dagger must have the ability to cancel out mana-skill activation. How incredible.

Without the card, Urmas was glitchy once again and was on the defensive until Tate finally took him out.

It was a good fight, and Urmas didn't seem to mind the loss much, even though his fans cursed the ground that Tate walked on. Tate's fans fought back, and although some of them felt like he'd gone a bit overboard, they respected his passion and said he made the games more exciting to watch.

Shadow lost to HighLow who he clearly underestimated at the beginning of the fight.

Lane lost to Jan, and Boris beat Victor.

In the next bracket, Tate beat Highlow, and Boris beat Jan.

Which left Boris and Tate going on to the final. Lexie was ecstatic for them. She let them know in messages she sent to each of them individually. They both replied with thanks, and Boris invited her to the match if she wanted to come. Lexie was still not sure she was ready for that, but she told him that she might.

Meanwhile, she focused on spending time with her father. They were slowly mending their relationship, and though she never mentioned it, she had already forgiven him for the soul thing. She couldn't forget, and sometimes she would think deeply about how slightly messed up it was, but Aiden made it hard to hold it against him. Despite everything, he'd been a good father to her and didn't seem to mind when she spoke about her old family.

During their walks, she often told him about Logan and her old parents, and it felt good to let it off her chest, to not have to pretend anymore.

"That's horrible," Aiden said after she'd told him about the time her parents ignored her birthday. It had started as a funny story about why she was so bad at maths, and when it ended there, Aiden looked utterly horrified. "What an awful thing to do to your child. She neglected you simply because you failed a test?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Well, I didn't fail, I just didn't do as well as they'd hoped." And that wasn't even the worst of it, but seeing how Aiden reacted, Lexie was reluctant to tell him more. "I've never spoken about this with you before?"

"No. You've told me a few things about your old life, but not this."

"Huh." Lexie didn't know what to say to that. Aiden still looked like he was mulling the story over with anger and sadness in his eyes.

"It wasn't all bad," Lexie assured him. "My parents…they were just victims of their own upbringing. Plus, at least I had my brother, and my best friend at the time, Mickie."

"Right." Aiden took a deep breath and forced a smile. "Of course. It's just a shame that you went through that."

Lexie shrugged. "Yeah. My brother's probably going through, or went through, the same thing. My death also doesn't make things easier for him." She eyed Aiden as they approached the lake. "I would like him to at least know what happened to me. He's back in my old dimension, and I'm hoping I can get cross-dimensional communication even without the ISTS." Lexie was sure she couldn't go back to the ISTS, even though Aiden assured her they wouldn't be able to tell she was a soul taken from them, without her revealing it. He'd been scared she might tip them off the last time they'd gone there, but he'd taken her anyway so she wouldn't go on her own.

Aiden thought about her question. "It's likely possible, though probably very difficult, since the connection will be through time and space. Let me see what I can find."

"Really?" Lexie's eyes widened, relief and gratitude flushing through her. "You'll do that for me?"

"Of course." Aiden's smile was genuine as she wrapped her arms around his waist. They'd reached their familiar lake, with the sun shimmering over the surface. He kissed her head. "You know I'll do anything for you, honey bee. Anything."

Lexie pulled back and stared up at him. "You sure you don't mind me talking about this stuff, about my old family?"

"Of course not. I knew what I would get, merging two souls into one. I've effectively adopted a second daughter, who is now also my first daughter. And I don't mind that you lived a life before me. I'm sorry it ended so tragically, but I'm happy that you're here and that you feel like you can trust me with this."

Lexie felt warmth bloom and affection spread throughout her body. She realized that, oddly enough, she did trust Aiden more now than she did before. She knew, like he'd said, that he would probably never be completely honest with her, and he would keep secrets if he thought they were too dangerous for her to know. But everything else about him had been consistent from day one. He loved his daughter. He loved his wife. For the two of them, he would give his life.

For now, that was all she needed to know.

The next day, they went to the Arcadian Research College to tour the campus and the dorms. Lexie was pretty sure she wanted to commute from home, but she would have to stay in the dorms in her last two years of school anyway, and she wanted to know what they looked like. The bedrooms were not shared, but they were small, with tiny windows that reminded her of the ISTS Researcher's office. The room Lexie liked the most overlooked the school's forestry reserve, and if she ever did move on campus, that would be the room she would choose, as it would remind her of home.

After checking out the dorms, Aiden led Lexie over to the card department, where the lecture halls and the research rooms were located. They climbed onto the second floor, and the first doors they met were clearly professors' offices. They passed a few professors on the way, but none of them stopped to say hi, most with their heads buried in a book or annoyedly attending to a student's questions.

"Elvira's back in school, right?" Lexie asked.

"Yes. You want to meet her?"

Lexie nodded. She hadn't seen her old friend in so long, and she wanted to say hi.

They walked farther down the brick-paneled hallways with stone arches, and began to encounter more students. Lexie also started to notice a few stares. At first, she thought it was in her head, but then she started to hear the whispers too.

"Yeah, she's the one who…"

"Really? Torture?"

"It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Do you think she made those cards?"

"No way, but it would be amazing if she did."

"I desperately need someone to make cards cool again, so the clan elders stop laughing whenever I tell them I'm a card mage ."

"Lex?" Aiden asked, and Lexie glanced up at him. He looked concerned, clearly noting her discomfort. "We can go if you want."

She shook her head and faked a smile. "I'm fine."

They saw Elvira through one of the research room windows, bent over her wooden bench that was arrayed with different cards, pens, a generator, and a network of pads on a multi-armed stand. Lexie rapped on the window to get her attention and, once she looked up, Elvira smiled and waved before coming to open the door.

"Hello, Lexie. I didn't know you were coming over. I would have prepared the place for you."

"Prepared how?" Lexie walked in with her father. "It's a lab."

"I would have gotten an extra chair for one."

"It's alright," Aiden said. "We can stand."

Lexie studied Elvira's setup, fascinated. "What is this?"

"I'm evaluating my senior thesis project. We discovered the pain points of the average elder in Bridgevalley, Arcadia–which is the highest segment of the population to need frequent assistance–and my team and I are crafting cards that can address them. " She grimaced. "Well, I'm supposed to be working with my team, but I have no idea where they've gone. Both of them separately had emergencies, and while the odds of that happening aren't minuscule, the odds of it happening three times in a week are."

Lexie and her father shared a look. "Yeah, they're probably just letting you do all the work for them. That's shitty of them."

"You should mention it to your research supervisor," Aiden suggested.

Elvira nodded. "Perhaps I will."

Aiden opened his mouth to say something else, then reacted like he'd just received an SI alert. "Lexie, I hope you don't mind if I leave you alone for a second. I have to pick up my new intern from reception."

"Abernathy?" Lexie grinned.

"Yes. I have to get him signed in."

"Alright. After that, you can bring him over and I'll say hi?"

"Of course."

After her dad left, Lexie went over to stand by Elvira, who was once more bent over her cards. "Did you find the intent for the entire deck?" Lexie asked.

"Of course not," Elvira said. "Intent is very difficult to find for even one card, much less an entire deck. These are all built off similar cards in different decks. It took me just a little over a year to get these. Now, I'm trying to make them more useful."

As is the way of card magic, fighting the system to gain utility.

Lexie closed her eyes and thought of the story she could use to ascertain intent. Fae intent didn't come as naturally to her as Eldritch's intent did. Eldritch's intent had been triggered by strong and dark emotions, and she now had to be careful not to trigger those emotions. What else was there? Happiness? Love? Those didn't work. Maybe apathy? How could she find a story that didn't make her feel anything?

"Lexie?" Elvira sounded concerned. "Are you praying? If so, would you like me to leave out of respect for your deity?"

"No, it's fine." Lexie sighed and opened her eyes. She still had a long way to go for Fae's intent, but that was a given if even Elvira, who was part Fae, struggled.

Perhaps Lexie needed to understand more of how the mundane pathway worked, and that would give her the story to work with. She needed to find more mundanes whose pathways she could feel, whose stories she could tell. She would start with Emma and the nurses at the hospital. She would use Tate as a foil. Since he'd artificially induced mana into his body, it might teach how mana would react in a mundane environment.

She stared down at Elvira's cards and tried to stay encouraged rather than depressed that she would never again make cards as effective as the ones she had made in the dungeon, the ones she couldn't use if she didn't want the eldritch essence to spread.

Was there a way to use it without spreading the essence, though?

Lexie didn't want to even let her mind go there, but the temptation was too strong. What if they sealed off most of the Eldritch essence, only leaving a tiny bit for her to use? Would that still be dangerous? Would it destabilize her soul?

She would ask Aiden when she got the chance.

After a few minutes of watching Elvira work, there was another knock on the door. It opened to reveal Aiden and Abernathy. Lexie snorted when she saw her old friend. She'd never see him as dressed as formally as he was right now, with a pressed shirt, corduroy pants, and an oversized blazer. His hair was gelled back with a little curl in front that made him look like a character from Little Rascals.

"What's with the getup?" Lexie asked, and Abernathy blushed.

"I wanted to look professional," he said. It almost made Lexie crack up even more, hearing that coming from someone who was all of eleven or twelve years old. She quickly sobered up, though, when she thought about it. It was actually sad that he had to do this at such a young age, to grow up fast and get a job to give himself a fighting chance at life.

As Elvira spoke to her dad about the cards and working through several kinks they found, Abernathy shuffled closer to Lexie. "Hey, um…are you okay?"

Lexie knew where this was going and couldn't hide the imperceptible stiffening in her spine. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason." Abernathy cut her a look. "So erm.. You're not fighting anymore?"

She shook her head.

"Are you sure? Because a lot of people would like to see you fight. Seriously, in the forums, they were–"

"Yes," Lexie told him, "I'm sure."

Thankfully, he dropped it there, but it probably wouldn't be the end. Ever since she'd fought Diana, Doyle and Chris had elected themselves presidents of her fan club and were frequently messaging her about her grand return to the circuit. Abernathy didn't bug her with it like they did, but he might be egging them on.

He let it go for now, though, and they spoke about Chris' Knight training and a bunch of miscellaneous topics until it was time to go.

All in all, it was a nice low-stakes day, which ended with Xena asking Lexie if she was still up for the Top Dog versus Torin match.

Xena: We don't have to if you don't want to.

Lexie: Nah, it's fine. I can't avoid the world forever and I'll be pissed at myself if I missed this once-in-a-lifetime match. Besides, my friends are fighting in the opener. I'll just have to find a really good disguise.

Xena: That's the spirit. If it's not fun, we can leave, but I have a feeling it's going to be one hell of a fight.

Hours away, stuck in a tiny, one-room, underground bunker where he was veritably losing his mind, Silas heard the door open. At first, he thought he might have been hearing things. That had happened a few times over the weeks he'd been here. Staying sensory deprived for that long could do that to a person.

It was worth it because it kept Vacek off his tail for even longer. Vacek still knew something was up, knew a conspiracy was underway, but the man didn't see the bigger picture. He never could.

Footsteps told Silas that the door opening had been real and not imagined. He looked up from his bed to see the [Villain] he'd met at The Alchemist meeting, approaching with a crazed and cruel smile.

"It's almost showtime," he said. "We're going to launch our grand finale at the big AFC match that's happening soon, one of the most televised events for decades." He waggled his eyebrows. "Neat, huh?"

Silas sighed, imagining how many people would get hurt because of this. "Minimal damage, right?"

The [Villain] shrugged. "Chaos is a hard thing to control."

Silas swallowed his rebuttal. There was no use in protesting now. Not only would the [Villain] not listen, but Silas already knew that for his plan to work, they needed a lot of casualties. The world needed to perceive Vacek with blood on his hands, which would be the final trigger to get him out of his position. Then the real take down would begin.

It was a monstrous act, but Silas was willing to die a monster, so the [Heroes] would prevail in the world again.

Which reminded him:

"Lucy Frank is taken care of, but there's one more loose end," Silas said. "His name is Max Devereaux."

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