The night slipped by. Arwin remembered little of it. He was so tired that he collapsed into bed the moment he reached it and didn’t move more than a breath again until Lillia shook him awake well into the morning. They headed into the common room. The Devil’s Den was surprisingly unchanged from how it had looked before. Even though it had bonded with a Dungeon Heart, Arwin couldn’t see any obvious changes in it. That was probably a good thing — anything suspicious might have put Twelve on the defensive when he arrived. The other members of the Menagerie trickled into the room as the morning wore on. A heavy stillness hung in the air as everyone gathered, laden with trepidation. It took Lillia over an hour to prepare everyone breakfast, but it only took minutes for everyone to stuff it down. Rodrick ran over the plan with everyone once more, making sure every single one of them knew their part. Beyond that, none of them spoke much during the meal — their minds were completely focused on what was to come. There were a lot of things that had to go right for this to work properly. They all knew that, and they all knew what was at stake. Not a single one of them would have had it any other way. Their minds were set. Arwin couldn’t help but notice that, as soon as he finished eating, the tension tightening his insides seemed to relax as if someone had given his soul a massage. His thoughts became clearer and the stiffness from the night evaporated. The other members of the menagerie underwent similar changes. The slight look of satisfaction that broke through the determination in Lillia’s expression told him what the cause was. It seemed she’d been getting much better at improving the magical effects her food could convey. “Freeze,” Lillia commanded again. Twelve staggered as the chains evaporated, but the effects of Lillia’s power were wearing off. Arwin charged forward, but Twelve was faster. He launched himself toward Lillia, his dagger flashing through the air in a black streak, so fast that Arwin couldn’t even follow the motion. It carved toward Lillia — A table slammed into Twelve’s face with a loud crack. The assassin stumbled back, shock playing across his features for a brief instant before his foot slipped through a hole that appeared in the floorboards. He dropped into a practiced roll, only for a mug to sail through the air and slam into his head with a meaty thunk. Twelve rolled to his feet, then dropped back to the ground as another table sailed through the air over his head and crashed into the wall, blowing itself to splinters. A rattle filled the air. Every single table in the room floated into the air. Cutlery, mugs, bottles from the shelves, and shattered planks of wood joined them. The kitchen door slammed open. From within it, knives and pans marched into the common room. “You think you can defeat me with kitchenwares?” Twelve asked, aghast. Half a dozen tables hurtled at his head in response. The assassin blurred, vaulting out of the way, and shot toward Lillia. Arwin lurched into motion, flinging himself into the other man’s path, but Twelve bounded past him like nothing was there. Blue chains drove into Twelve and he jerked to a halt. The effect shattered an instant later and he spun, eyes turning toward Reya — and a table slammed into the back of his head with such force that it shattered. Twelve staggered and snarled, ignoring Lillia as he blurred toward Reya. Shadows gathered at his feet, but they peeled away from him before he could slip into them. He recovered quickly, but Reya dove back as a rain of household objects pelted into the assassin from every angle, keeping him from getting close to her. Arwin strode into the storm of wood and swung Verdant Inferno at Twelve’s back. The assassin twitched to the side, sensing him coming and avoiding the blow. He managed to twist out of the way of several knives and a pan in the process, though many of the other objects still struck him. They did little damage. Twelve might have been an assassin, but he was a much higher Tier than they were. His body could take a beating… or at least, his real one could. A clone had a limited amount of magic. Every blow Twelve’s clone took, no matter how small, weakened his defenses permanently. “Enough!” Twelve roared. Strands of darkness exploded through the room, ripped free from Lillia’s grasp, and swirled around him. He blinked out of existence. Wood exploded up from the ground around Lillia, twisting into a cocoon in a split second. There was a loud thunk a moment later as Twelve’s dagger slammed into the wooden planks, just barely missing Lillia. The storm of floating objects hurtled after Twelve. He tried to sink into the ground again, but the shadows ran from him once more. He hopped to the side, batted a table out of the sky, and caught a pan to his skull for his troubles. Twelve barely even seemed to notice. He dove for the darkness in a blur, sliding into a shadow and reappearing behind Reya, his dagger already streaking toward her neck. Arwin activated [Unleash] and drew on the Wyrm’s Revenge, releasing the power that waited within it. Twelve’s dagger rang out against scale. The assassin hopped back a step, his eyes widening. A shimmering Wyrm formed in the air around Reya. Its form was translucent, but the scales where it had been struck were as solid as steel. The monster shimmered and faded away as Arwin released the skill. “Jessen’s Wyrm,” Twelve breathed. His eyes snapped to Arwin. “You! Your guild was the one that killed him?” “I kind of figured you’d gotten that part by now. You really didn’t do your research,” Arwin said. Blue chains slammed down around Twelve, locking him in place as Arwin lunged and swung Verdant Inferno. The assassin ripped free of his bindings and brought his dagger down. It slammed into Verdant Blaze’s head, and the two weapons screeched as they locked in place. Twelve skidded back across the floor, bracing both of his hands against his weapon. Arwin planted his foot in the assassin’s chest with a snarl. Twelve launched back and a table whistled out from his side, slamming into him like a baseball bat and sending him hurtling for a spiked piece of wood that rose from the floor. The assassin twisted his body. Darkness spilled out from his palms and he vanished before he hit the ground. A blade slammed into Arwin’s back. He staggered forward and spun, but Twelve ducked away from him before he could land a blow. Pain burned at Arwin’s back, but he ignored it. The blow had punched right through his breastplate, but it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal. Twelve didn’t waste his time fighting Arwin. He vanished once more, ripping darkness from Lillia’s control, and reformed behind Reya. A dark blade shot from his fingers and toward her back. A table hurtled through the air and slammed into Reya, throwing her to the side. Twelve’s magic sliced through the table but missed its original mark. He snarled in anger. “You are the most annoying pests I have ever fought,” Twelve spat. He vanished from sight. “Freeze,” Lillia commanded, bracing herself against the counter as exertion carved across her features. The assassin took form once again, his blade moving in slow-motion through the air toward Reya. She threw herself into a roll, but the blade still cut across her back. She let out a pained cry as she hit the ground. Twelve dove after her, only to catch a table to the face for his troubles. It shattered with a loud crack and he pushed through it, charging after Reya. Knives flashed toward him and Twelve vanished, reforming behind Reya — and finding Arwin standing directly before him. Arwin swung his hammer. The assassin dodged back, then lunged under Arwin’s arms to finish Reya off. Fragments of wood and metal slammed into him, but he didn’t slow. Reya thrust her hand forward. Blue chains jerked taut around Twelve, locking him in place. Arwin didn’t have time to swing Verdant Inferno again. Instead, he drove his knee up into Twelve’s side. It was like striking solid stone. Arwin hissed in pain and the assassin staggered as Reya’s magic faded. He hopped back, putting distance between himself and Arwin, and raised his dagger. Reya and Lillia were both breathing heavily. Lillia had used an insane amount of power wielding the Devil’s Den, and Reya couldn’t keep holding someone as strong as Twelve. They hadn’t lost the fight yet, but they were running low. Fortunately, they weren’t the only ones. As strong as Twelve was, he was still a clone — and he’d spent a lot of magical power pulling his shadows back from Lillia. She could have cut him off of them completely, but then he wouldn’t waste his magic using his powers. He should have spent enough by now. “It seems the end has arrived,” Twelve said. A second dagger formed in his other hand and he lowered his stance. Darkness gathered around his body and curled up to swallow him whole — and Arwin activated the thin connection between himself and the bracelet that Twelve seemed to have forgotten about. The assassin’s eyes went wide. He banished a knife and grabbed at the metal band, but it was stuck fast on his wrist. Bands of red wormed into Twelve’s skin and he let out a snarl. In a split second, his body seemed to turn itself inside out. His clothes ripped and he grew a foot size, red muscles bulging out from beneath his shirt. Horns curled out from his head and his snarl turned to a roar. Blood-red eyes burned as they stared out at them, and a series of furious, snarling grunts emerged from Twelve’s lips. He had become a hideous, twisted caricature of a demon. Twelve still had every single ability that he’d possessed before the change, of course. He hadn’t lost any intelligence or ability — the shift was only skin deep. But for the crowd that Rodrick had gathered outside to invite everyone to the grand reopening of the Devil’s Den, it would be enough. I will show no mercy to the people that try to destroy my guild. My friends. “Now!” Arwin commanded, bursting into motion. Reya thrust her trembling hands forward, drawing deep on her power as she sent it slamming into Twelve once more. Chains bound the demon and jerked to a halt halfway to raising the black dagger defensively before it. Arwin’s foot slammed into Twelve’s warped chest. He unleashed every scrap of power he could with [Scourge], pouring the magic out into the strike. Twelve exploded backward. He hurtled through the air and crashed through the door, flying out into the street behind him. The assassin-turned-demon skidded across the ground and let out a furious roar. It cut through the excited cheers, turning them to screams of terror in instants.