As the conflict died before the sides had even met each other in melee Ozzy stared the opposing side down.

  “Leave now and you can take your heads with you.” Ozzy said, holding his head high as he sought to keep the contents of his stomach out of the street.

  The opposing group needed no further encouragement and like the roaches they were they scattered, all going whichever way seemed safest to them.

  In that moment Ozzy slouched, letting the weight of his act sit upon his shoulders before he sloughed it off, turning to look for the mustachioed man from before. The man was lying on the ground and in no condition to do much of anything. While most of his right leg was still there his left terminated at just below above the knee. They were truly gnarly wounds, and Ozzy could see torn cloth and blood where shrapnel had torn into the upper reaches of his legs, groin, and even stomach. Despite all of this damage however the man was lucid, and currently staring him down.

  “Thank you.” The man offered Ozzy a weak smile. “I thought our plan was going to end on the die trying portion of it. You are truly magnanimous in your power.” He said, bowing his head as much as he could manage, and in turn the other core users around them followed suit, a susurrus of thank you’s raising up into the air around them.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Ozzy offered his own bow, though it was much clumsier than the ones he’d been offered. “You’re the only reason that woman and her kid got out safe. I owed you one.” Ozzy said, watching in real time as the two core users on either side of him mended wounds and pushed shrapnel out of his battered body.

  “No favors or allowances here. You have made a friend and brother in arms today.” He put a fist against his chest as a symbol of his oath. “I am Eclastiedes, what is your name warrior?” Eclastiedes said, speaking like some royal duke, his voice as commanding as his mustache was fancy.

  “I’m just Ozzy, I’m a new hunter.” Ozzy said, and while he was happy to give his thanks or receive it and whatnot he really just wanted to get going and go to sleep back at Emil’s place, and as he thought about it he had to wonder, where the hell was Emil?

  “Sure sure,” Eclastiedes laughed from his position on the floor, “you don’t have to say what tier you are if you don’t want to. Mikeala, that demon of a woman was only tier one. Easy for someone like you I’m sure. Though her cores and gear were nothing to scoff at.” His mood soured as he spoke about Mikeala, and he shivered as he shook off the bad vibes.

  “I’m sorry about your wife and daughter, truly.” Ozzy offered, kneeling down beside Eclastiedes and doing his best to ignore the blood.

  The man just sighed in return. “It’s been three months. That’s how long it took me to pull myself out of a bottle and do something about it.”

  “That wretched woman would have dredged their very bones up out of the swamp and thrown them at me if she could have. You have no idea just how many people will be happy she’s gone, and once we’ve hunted the last of the scum that followed her there won’t be anyone left that wouldn’t spit on her memory. I-”

  “Ozzy what the hell are you doing man?” Emil cut Eclastiedes off as he ran panting up to them, only to be stopped dead as weapons were summoned and drawn from dimensional bags to level at him.

  “He’s with me!” Ozzy shouted, moving to bat a sword and spear away from where they’d just been pointed respectively at Emil’s neck and groin.

  The warriors that had drawn weapons apologized awkwardly as they let Emil through. All of them stepping to form a small perimeter as their leader continued to receive healing.

  “Please tell me you didn’t jump into a turf war.” Emil groaned, looking around at the core users and war torn street.

  “Not a turf war at all friend of Ozzy, today, we settled a blood feud!” Eclastiedes shouted in triumph throwing a fist up in the air as the warriors around him cheered.

  “Gods save me from this fool.” Emil muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for Ozzy to hear.” “Ozzy you can’t go joining random core user fights, especially not this high up the city, I can’t even believe I have to tell you this.” He said, running a hand through his hair as he looked around anxiously.

  “We’re just lucky you didn’t kill anyone. We can get out of here and no one but… whatever mustache mans name is will remember you or your face, and much less your name. Right?” Emil questioned, looking back at him for confirmation, he had to wait a long time.

  “I was the one that shot her…” Ozzy said, staring down the road at the headless corpse of the woman.

  “Who was it?” Emil asked him, and when he didn’t respond he turned to Eclastiedes. “Who is that?!” He asked loudly.

  “Mikeala of the Edge Slingers, she’s with the platform gang, one of their tier 1 lieutenants.” Eclastiedes said, speaking about it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  Emil screamed in rage, punching the wall with enough force to dent and crack the wood. “Listen sir,” Emil got down to his knees next to Eclastiedes, “I’m from the third platform. My friend Ozzy here has been in Myreluck for all of a day and a half. He has no idea what he’s doing or what you’re trying to do, what sort of consequences there might be, or even who the edge slingers are. So listen, I have a family down there, the edge slingers can’t come looking for us because if they do they’ll roll right through our district like it’s not even there.” Emil said as Eclastiedes listened intently, his expression growing darker and darker with each sentence he heard.

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  “We need to get the rest of her patrol.” He shouted, and waved his team back to him. “We need to kill Mikeala’s patrol before they get back across the platform to their territory.” He commanded.

  “How the hell are we gonna catch them?” One of his warriors asked.

  “We’ll take the lift up to the city floor and catch the wayepath. That’s the only way we’ll beat them to the border and kill or incapacitate them before they make it within sight of the towers. Ryan, you’ll have to carry me as I heal.” Eclastiedes finished, taking a heavily engraved and ornamented vial out of a dimensional bag at his hip and emptying the contents into his mouth. “Ozzy, have your friend help you loot Mikeala’s gear. We’re moving the second I start to get my legs back.

  Rushing over Ozzy clicked his watch, scanning Mikaela’s corpse with the hope it might catalogue her loot for him. Thankfully it did just that, the lasers sticking to certain pieces of her kit and basically highlighting them for him.

  *BEEP BEEP*

  Items identified:

  Dimensional bag, class II

  Ring of Mana Rejuvenation

  Ring of Rumbling Power

  Boots of The Scoutmaster

  Dagger of Pain

  Simple Gold Ring

  Simple Aquamarine Pendant

  Female Leather Armor, Enchanted

  “Does that say class two?!” Emil practically leapt at the screen, getting right up into it as he read the text line for the dimensional bag. “Ozzy that thing is worth more than my house!”

  “Take it, and see if there’s anything useful in there. I’m grabbing the rings and dagger. You want anything else?” Ozzy said, trying to swallow the weirdness and quite frankly disgusting nature of looting a corpse. Speaking of, Ozzy extended a hand out, summoning Frank into the world beside him before he clipped the pain knife to his belt.

  “You’ve done it now kid. My boss is pissed at you something fierce.” Frank said by way of greeting, watching the two hunters pull jewelry, a bag, and pair of boots off of the corpse.

  “What do you mean he’s pissed at me?” Ozzy asked, turning to Frank as he tried to further examine the rings, only for Emil to fall backwards bumping into Ozzy and nearly sending him tumbling in kind. “Emil do you really have to take her boots?”

  “They might fit Liza!” He said, ignoring Ozzy and the rat as he started to pry the second one off of a cold stiff foot.

  “All of this shite,” Frank pointed up and down the street with his snout. “No offense but Fauga basically told you to kick a sleeping jarvint and then wait around for it to wake up.” Frank said, sniffing in irritation as he spoke.

  Ignoring his desire to for the millionth time ask what a jarvint was and why everyone talked about them Ozzy responded. “Well does the great rat have any suggestions as to what we could do to fix this?”

  “You need to get a different haircut and stop hanging out with Emil or take him and his wife off of the third platform. They saw him when he looked over the railing and it wouldn’t take a master seer to find you which’ll find him, and when they can’t figure anything about you since you’re a stranger and all that they’ll move onto the next best thing. Emil and Liza.”

  “Liza and I can’t move.” Emil spoke up. ”We’re in a family district, they’d just go after everyone we left behind, and we definitely can’t move platforms with everyone, no way in all the above n’ below we’d be able to find the space we need.”

  “Then take them out of the swamp. Rent a couple of wagons and float out.” Frank said.

  “That’s suicide and you know it, rat.” Emil said, spitting the word out like an insult as he turned to stand to his full height, stashing the boots in his bag and glaring down at Frank.

  “So is leaving them there if you don’t kill the rest of that patrol, and so is trying to catch them before they make it across the city.” The rat said, indifferent to Emil’s taunt and bravado.

  Emil stared the rat down, his stance and body language communicating an amount of rage nearly over-boiling and yet it never reached his face. His features were a cool indifference, the only tell a small vein which pulsed intensely just beneath his eye.

  “You’re right rat.” Emil said, his tone unwavering as he left them, walking several meters away where he began to search through the dimensional bag. His posture relaxing a great deal as he felt around what must have been a treasure trove of loot inside the bag.

  After about twenty seconds had passed Emil stopped rummaging through the bag, and pulled out a large chunk of crystal whose glow and shape instantly made it known as a shard. Then with little ceremony he tossed it to Ozzy, lifting his eyebrows as if to say, well are you gonna scan it?

  Rolling his eyes at the hunter Ozzy brought his watch up to begin scanning as he caught the unnaturally yellow and orange shard.

  *BEEP BEEP*

  Items identified:

  Affinity shard of the shattered hand

  Surprised by the unusual name of the shard Ozzy clicked on its’ little text box, bringing up the next screen.

  Affinity Shard of The Shattered Hand

  The shard of the shattered hand is a specialty shard that bestows powers related to the concepts contained within the shard and within the scopes of the wielders cores.

  Postulations

  This affinity shard is likely to bestow abilities related to great and skillful power generated by the hands.

  It has concepts stored within linked to martial arts, striking, and open fisted techniques. Note, this is a specialty shard, and may have vastly different resulting abilities based on the wielders cores. Discretion is advised.

  Absorb? Yes/No

  “What the hell is a specialty shard?” Ozzy asked.

  Emils jaw went slack. “Absorb it!” He cried.

  Ozzy clicked yes on the option right as a hand collided with his head, and another with the shard. It was one of Eclastiedes men, but as his hand made contact with the shard it rebounded, an arc of magical energy latching onto him and blasting him into the wall where he collapsed in a smoking heap and did not rise.

  With the shard beginning the absorption process he had no time to look over his attacker. White hot lines of pain traveled through Ozzy’s arm, and it felt like every bone in his hand snapped at once, the phalanges all shattering and re-shattering as power coursed through his palms and into soul. Slowly but surely working its way through his heart, whereafter, the pain began to slowly subside. Leaving him panting in the street and staring at the smoking warrior who’d just tried to steal his core.

  *BEEP BEEP*

  ? Mysteries of Sacra [Isekai] [Weak to OP] [Beast Companion] ?

  by Robert Wolf

  Thrown into a world of beasts and magic, Kai must fight to survive and hold on to the last pieces of his humanity.

  What to expect:

  In a world where kindness is weakness and morality is a luxury only the strong can afford, Kai must decide who he wants to be and what he's willing to sacrifice.

  Umbra, fierce and loyal, and Scry, wise and offlandish, refuse to let him lose himself to the darkness growing within.

  But every step forward brings him closer to a prophecy no one dares to speak.