The fake messages from Dot, her empty apartment, and the easy access to Alan's floor and office. They were all part of a design meant to bring Luke in front of him. If one Lifeweaver wouldn't follow your demented orders, you could always get rid of him and replace him with another. Doubtless, Alan had a hundred people on standby to touch the orb the second Luke wasn't in the picture. There was just one slight hitch in that plan. Luke had no intention of going without putting up a fight.

  Luke reached out in all directions with Threads of Mana, keeping several out toward Alan but just as many in the direction of the door and the rest of the room. Adrenaline surged through his system, a welcome boost, as he looked around.

  "Today it's just you and me," Alan said, leaning forward, hands on the desk.

  Keeping Weaver's Perception primed, Luke shook his head. "I doubt that."

  "Final chance," Alan said, his expression showing a measure of, surprisingly enough, anguish. "Please don't make me do this."

  "The mask you wear has already slipped, guildmaster. There is no putting it back on."

  "So be it."

  Alan drew in a deep breath and then spoke a single word.

  DIE.

  Registering the word, Luke realized in an instant that this was not just normal speech. The word reverberated through the system, like a cast spell or used skill. No spellweave had betrayed its intention, and there was now no warning before it took effect.

  Luke's heart shut down, and his brain went dark. Consciousness fled, but only for less than a second. When he returned to himself, healing mana flooded his entire body to a ridiculous degree. That single attack had drained almost his entire store, and from the blood oozing out of his skin, Luke's body had followed Alan's command without complaint or hesitation.

  Pumping more healing mana into his meta-heart, Luke used Weavestep, propelling him closer to the desk, close enough to get a foot up over the edge. Before the look of surprise had fallen off Alan's face, Luke smashed his heel into it. It was like kicking a rock, but thanks to a whole lot of strength training, a rock wasn't quite the obstacle it had once been.

  Alan fell backward and slammed his head into the wall. Luke followed, threads of mana reaching.

  NO.

  It was as if the system itself had reached out to hold Luke still. Not a single muscle would answer his call, not even to breathe. Like being stuck in The Healer's Moment. Good thing Luke didn't need muscles to fight.

  The Healer's Moment.

  Time froze.

  Lashing out with several threads of mana, Luke found himself thinking about what the difference between rank one and two of The Healer's Moment was. So far, he'd found none. Whatever rebuffed his attempts at reaching in with Weaver's Perception also acted as a barrier against Threads of Mana. While neither skill possessed much weight to them, Luke's threads had more punching power, and with enough application of force, the barrier buckled and then faltered.

  Entering Alan's mana channels, Luke couldn't help but be amazed. The increased activity in the location now free of cancer had multiplied into the rest of the man's brain. It was like watching a light show full of sparkling stars. The brain pulled mana from the rest of Alan's body, leaving the mana channels withered and the meta-heart nothing more than a slave, pumping mana to the head.

  This was not normal. Not right. Still, in that moment, that didn't matter. Alan was attempting to kill him. Luke would not show mercy. Piercing the meta-heart in an instant, Luke then set to severing the main mana channel. Something unexpected happened then, something he had never seen before. The physical brain and mana channels in Alan's body acted as one, the physical and metaphysical coming together. Mana surged from the head back to the meta-heart. The light was blinding, and when The Healer's Moment ended, Luke stumbled.

  Movement had returned to him, and he drew in a deep breath. Alan still collapsed to the floor. Even with that strange, sentient brain activity, he'd still sustained heavy injuries.

  No.

  Stop.

  Alan's words were a shadow of what they'd been, a shadow of the previous commands. They slammed into Luke, but he found himself able to push through and ignore them. Taking a step forward, he reached out again with threads of mana.

  STOP.

  A little stronger, the command almost landed, but Luke found himself able to push back, almost like when he'd expelled Relian from his mana channels.

  "No," Luke said, his voice calm as he reached out.

  Alan disappeared.

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  "Teleport," Luke muttered, reaching out with Weaver's Perception in all directions to see if he could sense his opponent nearby. He could not. In a more general sense, it felt like his opponent had left the city, appearing somewhere to the east.

  Alan: "Stronger than I had anticipated."

  Mr. Schmidt: "Few people surprise me."

  Guildmaster of Integrated Solutions Group: "Combat is not my area of expertise."

  Master: "But this changes nothing."

  Dorothy: "Personal might matters not."

  Dot: "The system will bend to my will, even if you do not."

  Milla: "You are a dead man walking."

  Hannah: "An individual cannot stand against the might of a guild."

  Mateo: "Prepare to face your end."

  Luke: "Your fake messages are tedious. Like a villain monologuing."

  Integrated Alan is not able to receive messages at this time.

  "Fucking bastard," Luke spat.

  He knew what was coming, but before they showed up, he kicked Alan's still half-full whiskey glass so the liquid spilled out over his chair and the carpeted floor, then spun and did the same to the decanter. "Take that."

  That's when the teleporting assholes arrived.

  The whole group was represented, with one addition, even, biker helmets and all. And it seemed they'd taken quite a bit of inspiration from Luke's group of friends. Interesting strategy, choosing the classes Luke had the most experience with, after his own. A mistake, if he could say so himself.

  Integrated Josh. Jumper. Level 19.

  Integrated Tom. Stormsinger. Level 18.

  Integrated Melanie. Vesper. Level 21.

  Integrated Diedrik. Reaver. Level 22.

  Integrated Emily. Lancer. Level 19.

  Integrated William. Bloomcaller. Level 20.

  In reading their classes, Luke also realized why this room was a Gauntlet. If not, the Bloomcaller would not be able to heal. William would not get the chance, anyway.

  I call the old winds forth.

  I name the storm forgotten.

  Break the world at my command.

  The words were different from Penny's peppy chants. Spoken darker, deeper, and in an ominous tone, but full of that same sense of power in each syllable. Lightning surged toward Luke just as a spear appeared in Emily's hand, thrusting forward. Shadows crept out from the corners of the room, reaching along the floor, and darkness formed in an orb in front of Dirk. Same class as Curtis, but so very different. Your choice of path did not start and end with the selection of your class.

  Weavestep carried Luke out of immediate danger and toward William, who disappeared the instant Luke closed in. Diedrik stood close enough and got firsthand experience with Threads of Mana. A quick jab with Needle of Life sent the Reaver to the floor before his spellweave finished. Not dead, but the man would not rise again for a while, not with his meta-heart almost sheared in two. He, too, disappeared.

  That left four. Tom's missed bolt of lightning shattered one of Alan's bookshelves, scattering books with burning pages across half the floor, highlighting the slithering shadows. Emily, the Lancer, attacked again and again, forcing Luke back. Despite retreating, dodging wasn't possible, not all blows. Deep piercing wounds opened up along his arm, and one in his side, but healed almost as soon as the spear withdrew. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Luke gritted his teeth and reached out with a thread of mana, wrapping it around the weapon. With a powerful yank, pulled it back enough for his hand to reach the haft. Another pull, with Emily holding on, brought her right in front of him.

  "You're nothing compared to Mateo," he grunted as he threw a fist straight into her chest, right above her heart.

  It was not physical damage he was after. To affect her on a deeper level, he'd prepared a thread of mana, reaching out with it from his knuckles. The punch delivered the thread to her meta-heart. Weaver's Rupture on full blast obliterated her meta-heart. Since she wore that helmet, he couldn't see her expression, but he doubted it was anything other than twisted in surprise as he put an end to her future as an Integrated. Even if she lived, there wasn't much she could do without mana.

  His first instinct after pushing the woman back and to the floor was to throw her spear at Tom, the Stormsinger, who was chanting spells into existence again.

  I whisper ruin into the sky.

  I seed the clouds with dread.

  Not compatible with class: Lifeweaver.

  Dammit. Why could he never learn that Lifeweavers weren't allowed to wield weapons? That moment of disruption was almost enough to see him electrocuted.

  Now let the lightning feast.

  Almost, but not quite. The spellweave had formed when Luke lashed out with Destabilize Spellweave, but that split second between the weave forming and the spell striking him was enough for the new skill to land, and the spell fell apart, harmless.

  That did little to protect him from the Vesper's shadows reaching him. Rather than being tentacle-like, like Hannah's, they writhed and stretched, grabbing hold of Luke's without substance. A second later, he crashed into the door to Alan's office, slamming it open to land right outside in a heap.

  "Ow," he groaned, pushing back up to his feet to meet.

  Stumbling a little, his leg almost torn off by the sheer force of the attack, Luke took a defensive stance with the Mutable Blade of The Lilineese in the shape of a staff. The system didn't protest as long as he took it out of its blade shape. As his body had knitted itself back together, Josh rushed out of the office, charging at Luke with his fist raised, poised to strike.

  Jumper. The one Integrated with a class not in common with someone Luke knew. He'd never met one before, which put him at a disadvantage. Steeling himself, he thrust forward with the staff, hitting nothing but air. Josh disappeared mid-lunge. Pain bloomed from Luke's left ear, and he winced back only to receive another fist from below. The attacks were strong enough to make him drop the staff, and before he could fend off the punches, Josh switched up his attacks.

  A long, thin blade slammed into Luke's chest, punching through the breastbone to pierce his heart. Even before withdrawing the blade, Josh disappeared again, and another dagger slid into his side with a wet squelch. Bloom poured out of him even as Luke's body reconstituted itself, draining most of the healing mana in his meta-heart.

  In a matter of seconds, Luke found his throat slit, his brain pierced by that same dagger going in through his ear, and then again through his eye, then his gut, and a wider blade through his spine. Death by a thousand stings, even with his meta-heart pumping out healing mana. Once that source of healing ran out, Luke flailed, trying to fend the attacker off as the others approached. The situation was turning dire. Desperate even. Keeping calm was difficult, mounting a counter-attack, impossible.

  If that had continued for much longer, Luke would've been a goner.

  Good thing he wasn't out of tricks just yet.