A man strode forth from the oven. Dressed all in black, he stalked into the center of the square. Black boots, black trousers, black shirt, black coat, black cloak. His face blended into the shadows of his hood, and black gloves clad his hands. If he hadn’t spoken earlier, Levi wouldn’t have been able to determine his gender by looking at him.

  “You, who are harbingers of the apocalypse. Die here, by my hand,” the man boomed.

  “Gods, really?” Levi asked.

  “Truly. You have no choice in the matter.”

  “No, no, not that. I mean you. We already have the memelord—that’s me, and the edgelord—that’s Kai. All the edgy cool guy slots are already taken. You can’t be the goth lord. We’re all full up on lords.”

  “Excuse me?” Isa murmured.

  Levi tried to gesture at her, but couldn’t escape from the black energy that gripped him. “That’s right, sorry. And we have a lord lord! A member of the landed nobility! That’s far too many lords. At this point, we’ve got more lords than we do peasants, and that just can’t be. So… sorry, but you’ve got to go home and change. Come back when you look like a normal, stable member of society. We’ve already got too much instability in this room.”

  “Are those your last words?” the man asked, striding closer.

  “No. I’ve still got a lot to say. Speaking of, you know this isn’t going to work, right? If the gods want the world gone, the world’s going to go. They’ll just choose someone else as their Champions. You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”

  “Then I will prolong it for as long as I can,” the man vowed.

  Levi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. Push it off, make it someone else’s problem.T The world won’t end in your generation, so who gives a fuck if it ends in the next one? Damned if I don’t know enough about that old lemon. But why? Why put off the apocalypse?”

  The man lifted his hood just enough for Levi to make out him squinting. “What?”

  Levi tried to gesture, then gave up and went back to talking. “Look, I’m a good guy. A Champion and a hero, if you will. I’m going to choose whatever I can to keep this world rolling. I mean, hell, why not? I like this place. It’s pretty neat.

  “So, rather than killing us all, why not just put your strength behind one of us? In fact, why not put it behind me? I’ve already said I’m not going to end the world! Don’t put off the Apocalypse. Face it! Embrace it! Invest in it! From someone who came from an apocalypse, trust me. It’s not as bad as you think.”

  Colin raised his brows. Gold magic still flowed between him and Levi, healing Levi even as they remained stuck in the black magic. “You’re a good guy?”

  “Shh. Not in front of the guests,” Levi hissed. He glanced at Colin’s magic and raised his brows, then looked down at the binds that held him. Turning his eyes to their maximum, he tracked the man in black. From here, one of his hands was out of the sight of the man. Levi called out to the fresh death lying on the floor all around him, gathering it around his hidden hand.

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  With his other, he activated the old Shadow Caster magic from his short-lived second class. He reached out to the darkness wrapped around his hand and pushed, willing it to back away from his hands. His mana burned down. In an instant, almost an eighth of it vanished, but in return, the black binds paralyzing his fingers softened. He wiggled his fingers, then grinned.

  Oh-hoh-hoh. Interesting. Very interesting.

  He couldn’t free his whole body, but a portion of it, a piece of it… that was more than possible. Now he just had to wait for the right moment.

  The man paused in his pacing. He crossed his arms, looking at Levi with one brow cocked. “So I’m supposed to trust in you to handle the Apocalypse? Some guy I’ve never met?”

  “Why not? And I don’t have to be some guy you’ve never met. Look at us, right here, right now. We’re meeting! Getting to know one another. Let’s get out of these shackles, head down to the local tavern, share a few beers, and really get to know one another, and then you can decide to put all your power, money, and strength behind me. What do you say?”

  “I think I’d rather kill you here, and stop the Apocalypse altogether.”

  Levi sighed. “Look, we’ve already gone over it. That’s not going to work.”

  The man stalked toward Levi. He reached to his belt. A dozen silvery, viciously twisted knives glittered on his belt. “Only one way to find out. I was going to kill the Champion of War first, but I think I’ll start with you instead.”

  Levi glanced across the room. Kai hung casually in his shackles, looking as cool as a cucumber. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying the experience, as if it were a novel concept that a force as unstoppable as him could be contained, however temporarily.

  “You sure about that? I think you should kill Kai first. He’s definitely the bigger threat,” Levi said.

  “I’ve made up my mind, thanks to you.”

  “Oh, awesome. Wait, not awesome.” Green and black smoke wound around Levi’s back hand, but it wasn’t ready yet. He needed a few more seconds. “You sure about killing me first? I mean, I’m just a little guy. Look at Kai and his big scary sword. Those muscles! If you kill me, his best friend forever, you’ll enrage him, and who knows? He’s so strong, he might break those bonds.”

  The man cocked a brow. He looked over his shoulder at Kai, who stared back, bored and totally unconcerned for Levi. “Is that so.”

  Levi clicked his tongue. “I’m just looking out for you. Look, if you kill him first, even if I get sooo angry I go rage mode over the death of my number one bff for life, there’s no chance I can break these bonds. It’s just the smart choice.”

  “And if I kill him first, and you, the Champion of Death, resurrect him?” the man asked dryly.

  “Why would I do that?” Levi asked, lost.

  “He’s your ‘bff for life.’”

  “Oh, right. Yeah. I would resurrect my number one bff for life, except I can’t do that at range. So I can’t. So you’re safe, so kill him first!” Levi argued. The magic whirled around his hand, as strong as it was going to get. Still, he waited. If he could get this guy to kill Kai for free, there was no reason to stop him.

  The man looked at Kai. He chuckled and shook his head, then turned back to Levi. “No, I think I’ll start with you.”

  “Then die, motherfucker!” Levi activated his shadow magic to its strongest, flaring it around his back hand. The bonds loosened, just enough for him to twist his wrist and point his finger at the man. The smoky green-and-black beam burst from his finger and slammed into the man’s shoulder.

  The man staggered back. He gripped his shoulder. The shadow magic loosened.

  Levi jumped back, tearing free of the shadows. Isa and the Armalgam did the same. Isa turned and helped Colin out of the shadow magic. Levi whistled, and the Armalgam hopped on his shoulders. The slombie hissed as it burned through the shadow binds. It hit the ground. Across the field, Kai whirled his sword and slashed the remnant magic away.

  “Take my death beam!” Levi crowed, pleased with himself. Nonetheless, he backed away warily. The shadow bindings melted from the field, but that spell alone had been impressive. He couldn’t accomplish anything like that, nor could Kai, to the best of his knowledge. If the man could do another spell like that, he’d be a serious opponent.

  The man laughed. He stood, dusting off his shoulder. Where Levi had hit, his cloak gleamed, a brilliant blue velvet, but as they watched, black crept over the velvet once more. “That little thing? It couldn’t even break my shadow armor.”

  Levi laughed back. “I knew it. You hypocrite. You’re a Champion too, aren’t you?”