Father’s original prediction of finding his Son in less than forty runs obviously didn’t pan out. But he was close. He was sure the Shell was the right place. It was just a matter of killing Tiger and whatever other boss hid behind the huge double doors.

  Despite Father’s extensive experience in all of his previous lives, Tiger was still a good match. Father had killed the shrimp in the end, but he had been worn down by Magaleus, Doctor Holo, and the parrotfish in the apartment complex.

  Going in fresh was all he truly needed. If Father wanted rock throw, he’d need to kill Magaleus quicker and without sustaining an injury. That small crack was worn down throughout the day until the injury became unbearable.

  Fireball was hiding behind a similar situation, though the crab and his submachine gun were somehow easier to manage than Magaleus. In the end, fighting either of them without stronger spells risked injury which could end his run. If he sustained something like he had from Magaleus previously, he would just need to return to Trash Co. to try again.

  Father sheathed his katana, grabbed the shotgun, and headed back outside. Instead of driving straight to the Reef, Father made his way back to the trench city hall. A few new pigfish cruisers had pulled up. The pigfish Father had shot was still off to the side, headless. Officers swarmed the place.

  Knowing where Father had found the other four spells, it seemed impossible for one not to be in Mayor Borokurk’s office. Unfortunately, that meant Father would need to kill all the officers. Fortunately, they were likely all corrupt and even if he died, he was minutes away.

  Fighting without fireball, rock throw, magic missile, or anti-levitation took a part of Father’s brain that felt like it had gone dormant. As far as his abilities were concerned, he wasn’t a wizard yet. He was a novice with a few practice spells that also just happened to make sea creatures burst into flames while completely underwater.

  Father stepped out of the car, pumped the shotgun, and blasted a pigfish in the back. It flopped onto the corpse of the other dead officer.

  Spark

  He didn’t look as another officer burst into flames. Three more successive shots with the shotgun turned the front entrance of city hall into a display of fish guts and bloody clouds. He marched through, savoring the flavor, and readied himself for everyone inside.

  The first bullet aimed at Father went wide, missing by a few inches. He retaliated with a reply.

  Tickle

  Zap

  Spark

  Father took out the rest with decent shotgun blasts. Fins blew off the pigfish and scales fell like leaves, drifting down in the water. Father stomped on the incapacitated pigfish. After a moment of silence, Father reloaded the shotgun and headed toward the mayor’s office. Other than a few small bruises and scrapes on his shell, Father had managed completely fine even while outnumbered. Surprise helped, but so did his experience. He needed to retain his confidence while going back into the Shell. He had suffered. He had practiced. He had killed. All of those experiences helped Father get to the Shell, and they would help him kill every last Hardbody.

  An octopus crouched over Borokurk’s body. He had a fedora on top of his head and a trenchcoat that hid most of his body, which was really just his tentacles forming some kind of torso. Tentacles moved over the mayor’s body, poking various parts of the jellyfish.

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  Father pumped the shotgun, drawing the octopus’s attention. “Are you with them?”

  The octopus stood upright. Four tentacles acted in pairs of two to form legs, and the other four worked as two arms that only barely stuck out from the long coat sleeves.

  “With who?” The octopus reached into the trench coat and produced a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out, lit it, and shoved up underneath where his mouth was hidden. After a moment, smoke blew out from between tentacles.

  “The Hardbody Crustaceans.”

  “Ah.” He reached a tentacle inside to pull the burning cigarette free. “No.”

  Father kept the shotgun trained right on the creature’s face. He hadn’t seen many cephalopods around the trench, but he had heard stories about how dangerous they could be. Horror stories of squids ripping creatures limb from limb to devour them, or octopi gaining more tentacles from stealing fins and legs from other creatures.

  “Your comrades are all corrupt. Why wouldn’t you be?”

  The octopus shoved the cigarette back up into his nether regions. “A lot of crustaceans are vain.” He notably looked at Father’s rather revealing shorts.

  “Are you some kind of perverted octopus?”

  “Me? No.” The octopus pulled the cigarette out and released a stream of smoke from somewhere underneath his tentacles. “I’m Finch.” He extended a single tentacle that he had been using as a leg.

  “Isn’t that your foot?”

  “It’s all the same.”

  Father kept a firm grip on the shotgun. “I’m not shaking your foot. Put it down or I’ll blow it off.”

  Finch lowered his tentacle. He nodded toward the dead mayor. “I assume you did this?”

  “I did.”

  Finch tapped his cigarette and let the loose ash drift into the water. “And you returned to the scene of a murder because you wanted to brag to the detective that you killed the mayor? And apparently all of the other officers that were here with me?”

  “I did kill them too. Any sea creature that is affiliated with the Hardbody Crustaceans is bottom feeding scum that deserves whatever fate they meet at the end of my shotgun. As much as I would enjoy telling you how Mayor Borokurk was a corrupt scumbag, that’s not why I’m here. I already took his sword, and now I’m here to take one of his spells.”

  Finch perked up. He seemed to entirely forget the cigarette. “Spells? Like magic? I am a cephalopod of science. You are going to have to work to convince me that this murder wasn’t over some party trick. You’re not dressed like a stage magician.”

  “If I lower this shotgun, you won’t try to stop me?”

  Finch shook his head.

  Father barely lowered the barrel. His eyes scanned the desk and the shelves along the side. There was a thick, leatherbound book that looked like some type of tome. To grab it, he’d have to pass the octopus and turn his back, which was not a risk he was willing to take.

  Father pulled the trigger. The buckshot tore through Finch’s lower four tentacles, severing the octopus’s legs. A high-pitched scream made Father flinch as Finch fell to the ground and scurried on his last four tentacles like a misshapen monstrous spider. Father aimed and fired again, but the zipping octopus was too fast.

  Finch reared up and snapped at Father with his hidden beak. Instead of pulling the shotgun close or aiming down awkwardly, Father punted Finch, The octopus detective screamed and flailed. He crashed into Borokurk’s desk, bounced over the top, and crashed into the chair.

  Spark

  Flames immediately engulfed the chair. Finch disappeared behind the desk after narrowly dodging the spell. Father spotted a tentacle and blasted. Somehow, the octopus emerged from the other side of the desk.

  Father dropped the shotgun and drew Borokurk’s katana. Finch scurried over the ground, over the jellyfish’s corpse, and lunged with his beak at Father’s knee. He swung the katana down and sliced what remained of the octopus into two halves. Just to be sure, Father also punted half of Finch across the office. Octopus blood splattered, turning into clouds in the water.

  “Disgusting.” A few firm stomps on the other half of Finch left Father feeling rather satisfied. Lobsters craved satisfaction, and knowing he had left a trail of dead criminals gave him satisfaction unlike anything else.

  The tome he had spotted earlier was a thick one covered in old, slimy leather. It wasn’t doing well underwater, and it definitely wasn’t there when Father had originally killed the mayor. As far as he understood, the tomes only appeared after obtaining the wizard class.

  Counterspell

  Learn new spell?

  Yes / No