‘So,’ said Nia after we had gotten to our infiltration point, ‘the Infernalia finals. Do you think you can do it?’

‘Do you think I can do it?’ I asked. I had to wonder what Nia made of me. The woman out of time, the woman from whom she had taken her name. Did I loom as large in reality as I had in her mind, when all I had been was an ancient name, a concept?

She thought for a moment. ‘I do,’ she said firmly.

‘Even against two guys who’ve beaten me before? Recently?’

She nodded. ‘Ring rust?’ she offered as an explanation.

I laughed. ‘I sure hope that’s all it is. I mean, I’ve made up some ground since then. I beat Ataxia and Byson Kaliban - respectively, a former World champion and the cyborg twin brother of another. That’s gotta count for something.’

Nia nodded. ‘And the others?’

‘I came damn close against Ripper. He came away with the win… but now that I’ve awakened to my Power, who knows? And Donovan only beat me with the help of his buddies. We’ll see how strong their Pact is once their goals are no longer aligned.’

The ground was uncomfortable; rocks of a size too large to ignore and too small and numerous to move. I shifted and sat back, leaning on my hands. A moment of quiet passed before I spoke again. ‘You know,’ I said, ‘we’ve spent so much time picking over why, why, why… what is it that these bastards want with the tournament. Elijah, sure… he and I want specific things out of this. He wants to burn down one of the remaining thirds of the world; I want to give the world new hope. But… maybe Ripper and Jarvis and Harlan and Donovan really don’t have any motive beyond winning for the sake of winning.’

‘What are you getting at?’

I pondered for a second. ‘At the end of the day, if they’re not fighting for anything but their own egos… will these bastards be willing to leave every follicle of their being in the ring? Because God fucking knows I am. Because I have something to fucking fight for.’

I took a deep breath. ‘There’s a real chance I won’t make it through this, I’d be a fool to think otherwise. But I’d rather die fighting for the future than just waste away into nothing, dreaming of what I used to be. And that’s what I see for them.’

Well, maybe not Donovan, he seems to have at least one relationship that doesn’t derive solely from his money or his position. The rest of them, though…

Before we could continue the conversation, one of Eris’ drones arrived and projected a video of them in the E.R.I.S. control room.

‘The Dans and Mark have breached the gate,’ said Eris. ‘The mansion isn’t empty yet, but the security forces are moving out to meet them. I give it two minutes.’

‘Then we’d best get underway,’ said Nia. Each of us drew out a bow and notched a grappling arrow. We took aim at the top floor of the mansion and drew back the string. In the distance I could hear the sounds of battle, as Dan, Mark and Urquhart took on the veritable legion of security ogres that Eris’ display showed pouring out of the front door. And sure enough, as the last one emerged, the door slammed shut and deadbolted.

‘Good luck,’ said Eris through the drone. We loosed our arrows with a pair of twangs, and flew through the air towards a window on the top floor. I hoped to god that Urquhart’s intelligence had been correct, and that the barrier was only on the ground floor…

I hadn’t been sure exactly what I thought the home of the Mistress of Amorality would look like, but… it wasn’t what could really only be described as Downtonesque. The top floor of AnHellica’s mansion was appointed in a 19th century style. We had come into a bedroom, with a four-poster bed with brass ornamentation on the headboard. It was… surprisingly pleasant.

It also looked like it hadn’t been slept in for three hundred years.

Nia looked at me, and I could tell she was as unsettled as I was. But we shook it off and hurried downstairs.

The battle was still going when we arrived at the front door. A masked Grigori agent stood by a control panel, and was taken completely unawares when we rushed her, taking her down with a sharp strike to the back of the head mere milliseconds after she realized we were there. Nia strode over to the control panel and began to work.

After about twenty seconds, the great bolts began to retract, and the immense double doors swung open. We emerged to a massive melee; Dan, Mark, and Urquhart were fighting back to back, ducking and weaving with a synergy that I frankly wouldn’t have thought possible with three men who didn’t particularly like each other. But they were tired, and the security ogres were still coming.

Nia and I drew our bows once more and began raining arrows on the ogres. It wasn’t long before they noticed us, and a dozen or so peeled off from the assault on the men and charged towards us. Mark quickly dashed to take down a couple of them, they having made the mistake of turning their backs on a vampire. The remaining ogres ran on unabated, and Nia and I braced for combat.

‘Let’s see you pull this off, Elijah,’ I growled, and launched myself forward in a flying kick. The leading ogre took the full brunt of it, buckling despite its immense mass. I didn’t stop; another fell to a spinning back kick, and another. Beside me, I saw Nia bring the haft of her bow down hard on the skull of one ogre, then pivot and use the other end of her weapon to strike another in the throat. It fell, gasping for air.

One more came at me, and I just barely managed to dodge its massive, hairy forearm swinging at me. I had not expected it to follow up with a spinning back kick of its own, but the monstrous ankle came swinging into my midsection and knocked me to the ground. I groaned in pain, and through my slightly blurred vision saw Dan, Mark and Urquhart’s fatigue was beginning to show, and the ironclad defense of the three men seemed to be failing.

An unbidden thought occurred to me that I really, really hoped that this was a metaphor for what was going to happen to the Pact.

I saw Nia take a clubbing blow, powerful enough to throw her into the wall of the mansion. She wasn’t moving, but I could see that she was breathing. I gritted my teeth, kipped up, and launched myself at the ogre who had downed me with a Thesz press, raining down punches. He was knocked out after a few seconds of the onslaught.

I turned my attention first to the ogre advancing on Nia, choking him out from behind. That being the last of the group that had split off to attack me and Nia, I sprinted over to reinforce the men. It was all they needed to rally, and working together we dispatched the remaining ogres.

As the last one fell, none of us said anything for a minute; we were completely out of breath. I was the first to speak. ‘Everyone okay?’

Nia sat up, groaning. ‘All good.’

I saw Mark draw a vial of blood from his coat pocket and down it. He shook himself like a dog shaking off water, and with that he was fine.

‘Carlton,’ said Dan, panting slightly, ‘you do know that’s disgusting, right?’

Mark made no answer, but I swear he smirked a little. Urquhart spoke. ‘We should move. They’ve probably called in reinforcements from other facilities by now.’

We made our way inside the mansion. The entrance hall was vast and cavernous, with portraits of each of the Amoralists on the wall…

… and a disconcertingly large number of empty spots for portraits.

Fuck.

.

..

…

How many more did they plan on bringing back?

Urquhart seemed to know where he was going, and we hastened behind him. His face was set in grim determination, and Nia was in lockstep beside him.

At the end of a long, downward-slanting hallway, we reached a door. I recognized the symbol on it; it was the one Jaiden Rishel had entered in the Gathering of the Ravens. This was it, then.

I produced the talisman that Eris had given me earlier, and held it up to the door, briefly focusing my will on it. The talisman glowed, and I could feel energy dissipating from around the door. As the barrier hissed away, I began to hear noises from the other side of the door; chanting, though I couldn’t make out the words.

Well. That does change things a little. But nothing for it.

‘Let’s do this,’ I said. The others nodded, and we began jogging down the stairs.

We came to what I was absolutely sure was the Cradle; since the Orb of Life was floating above the center of the chamber. The chamber itself was an inverted half-sphere, almost pure granite. At the very bottom was a flattened section that some rough-hewn stairs led down to. The walls were a blood-red, and I had an unfortunate feeling that that description was apt in more ways than one. All along the rim of the recess were figures in black robes, their faces masked by hoods. And at the bottom, a stone slab that could only be described as an altar. On it rested a body, unmoving. And before it, shirtless and covered in digits painted in blood…

‘Lionheart,’ I said under my breath. There was no way he heard me, but he turned around regardless, and his face formed into a terrible grin.

‘We wondered how long it would be before you would-be saviors came riding up to save the day,’ he said. ‘You’re just in time; we’ve just finished reviving an old friend.’

The body on the altar began to stir, and slowly sat up.

Oh, fuck no. I thought. Dan, meanwhile, said my thought out loud.

‘Welcome back, Weapon-X,’ said Lionheart.

X sat up slowly, blinking stupidly. ‘We’ll complete your revival shortly,' said Lionheart, turning to face us. ‘I have to play exterminator.’

He moved with impossible speed, almost faster than my eyes could track, and slammed into Urquhart, knocking him nearly thirty feet back into the wall, where he slouched unconscious.

‘Dan!’ shrieked Nia. All tactical sense abandoned, she threw herself at Lionheart, laying into him with vicious punches. He effortlessly dodged them, and, pivoting with surprising grace, struck Nia on the back of the head. She crumpled like tissue paper.

Fuck. We need to retreat.

‘Discordia! Hearthstone protocol!’ I yelled.

.

..

…

But no reply came.

Lionheart laughed. ‘We’re in the Cradle, you idiot. The very heart of Amoralist power. Your puny god cannot come anywhere near this place.’

Dan and Mark attempted to flank him simultaneously, Dan striking high and Mark striking low. Lionheart managed to dodge both at once, doing a corkscrew flip at midsection height; as their blows faltered, he struck at them, knocking all the wind out of Mark with a palm strike to the solar plexus, and following up with an elbow strike to Dan’s temple. Both of them fell violently to the ground.

Lionheart turned his gaze on me.

Oh fuck.

He grinned. I knew full well he was capable of attacking me, probably faster than I could come close to defending. But he had dispatched all my allies effortlessly; now came the fun part for him.

‘It was bold of you,’ he said, smirking, ‘to try and assault us here. If this hadn’t been a ritual day, you might even have been able to lay hands on the Orb. Poor Cali… but lucky Lionheart.’ He licked his lips. ‘I’m going to enjoy this more than is really reasonable.’

With preternatural speed, he slammed into me with a massive gut-punch. I gasped and fell to my knees; he followed up with a massive boot to my face. I felt my nose break.

It hurt.

A lot.

‘And to think, you would take this beating right before a match in which you plan to “save the fucking future”,’ he said mockingly. ‘You’re going to be easy pickings for the Pact and the Ripper… assuming, of course, that you can even withstand the Apostate.’

He followed up with another kick to my midsection. I was pretty sure he broke at least one of my ribs, going by how painful it was to breathe.

‘You know the difference between you and them? Donovan; Harlan; Jarvis; Ripper… even Elijah?’ Another kick. ‘They don’t fuck around thinking about “what’s the right thing to do?”. They ask the only question one ought to: “what’s right for me?” They understand that this is the Amoralists’ world; pathetic scum like you are just living in it. The strong survive and the weak perish. That is how it is, that is how it ought to be.’

‘Fucking kill me, then,’ I spat, ‘and save me any more of this fucking drivel.’

He grinned. ‘Oh, I’m not going to kill you. Why waste all that lifeblood, when I can let your foes beat it out of you in the Colosseum?’ He looked around at my allies, all still fallen. ‘Your husband, too… AnHellica’s looking forward to taking him down far too much for me to spoil her fun. No, all I’m going to do to you is punish you for daring to oppose us; your sentence is to have any chance of victory at Infernalia sapped away by my hand.’ He stomped hard on my shin; I heard it shatter. ‘But the rest of them… that’ll be my treat to myself. Maybe I’ll start with the vampire. See if I can get him to drink his king. That’ll be fun!’

From the altar, a voice sounded. ‘I’d sooner drink his health, if it’s all the same to you.’ Mark had recovered enough to drag himself over to the altar. Fangs sprouted from his gums, and he sank them into the neck of Weapon-X, who was still sitting on the altar and blinking stupidly.

‘No!’ yelled Lionheart.

NOW’S YOUR CHANCE! came a voice inside me.

I closed my eyes. When I opened them a second later, I could feel them blazing with fire, and time slowed down. The blue fire spread across my body, knitting my broken bones back together, and I took on the form of the High Priestess once more. I leapt at the distracted Lionheart and seized him around the throat, pulling him down into the most powerful Bed of Roses I had ever delivered.

He was strong… but my Will was equal to his, even here.

I could feel him struggling, could feel his strength fading. I tightened my hold, gritting my teeth. He had hurt my friends, had hurt my husband, had hurt me, all with a grin of delight on his face. I wanted to choke the life out of him.

And yet…

Was that really what my Power was for?

If I killed him here, was I any better than Elijah? Than Ripper? Than any of them?

Maybe there was another way…

And then it came to me.

I softened my grip, still enough to keep a hold of Lionheart. I whispered in his ear. ‘I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.’

And then I channeled my Power through him.

I could feel the fire of the High Priestess tearing through every cell of Lionheart’s body. From his bare feet to the crown of his head, he was wreathed in flames. But no harm came to him.

No physical harm, anyway.

He fell limp in my arms. I released him. The work was done. He sat up and looked at me, his eyes beginning to brim with tears.

‘I… what did you…’ he said.

I looked at him stonily. ‘I restored your Morality. That pain you’re feeling? That’s all the pain you’ve caused these three centuries.’

‘Oh… oh God… what did I do?’ He was beginning to make horrible, racking sobs. ‘Why did I… so many people… I can’t… I was just a wrestler, I…’

‘This is your cross to bear,’ I said sternly. ‘You have been given this second chance, Lionheart. I suggest you take it.’

From the top of the pit came a slow clap. I whipped my head up to see AnHellica, her expression halfway between grudging admiration and abject disgust. ‘Oh, well done,’ she said. Lionheart, seeing her, bolted for the door. She didn’t stop him as he ran past her. She continued. ‘You did what I thought was impossible, I admit… to take one of us on in this place. I’ll have to tighten security.’

‘I can do you next if you like,’ I bluffed. Healing Lionheart had been tremendously taxing; I couldn’t imagine what it would take to heal AnHellica.

She laughed. ‘Oh no, I have far too much to do. Preparations to make! But I’ll tell you what; you’ve impressed me enough that I’ll let you and your gaggle leave. Ah, but…’ She snapped her fingers and above us the Orb vanished. ‘Can’t let you have that, of course. Oh, and when Dan revives, tell him I said… fear me.’

And with that, she turned on her heel and left. I had no energy to pursue her; it was all I could do to channel my Power into my friends and heal them. As the last of the healing energy streamed through my fingertips, I felt the power of the Priestess leaving me, and I fell to the ground.

Well, at least I’m not unconscious this time, I thought, seconds before I fell unconscious.

===

When I came to, I was back in Dan and my bed at the Academy. He had put a glass of water by the bed, which I drained in a single gulp. It wasn’t much later that he came in bearing a cup of coffee, which I gratefully accepted.

He knew better than to talk to me before I was at least three hearty sips in; once I was, he spoke. ‘So… how’re you feeling?’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Really… good.’

He smiled. ‘You got this.’

I smiled back.