Cass and Salos skulked down the halls. Cass clenched the dagger in her hands. They had the ghost of a plan and were just looking for an appropriate target.

  A pair of paladins stormed down the hall, crossing hers.

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 32)

  Order of the Copper Crescent Paladin (Lvl 29)

  Let’s go, Salos whispered from her shoulder.

  She shook her head. One first.

  We haven’t seen a single one on their own, he pointed out.

  I don’t think we can handle two at once. Her earlier attack on the pair guarding the door had not ended well, though that could be argued that was more to do with their reinforcements than the fact there had been two of them initially.

  It’s as good as we’re going to get.

  She hated he was probably right. They’d been here too long already. They’d been skulking around the halls long enough to reliably navigate between the dragon’s room, the central cathedral, and her original prison at will. Her Focus had had time to recover considerably.

  Stamina: 138/138

  Focus: 498/549

  Health: 68/133

  They had already spent too long looking for a lone paladin to try this on.

  Go, Salos urged her.

  Atmospheric Sense assured her the next nearest patrol was a ways off. These two were as isolated as they’d get.

  She raised her dagger, calling a Tempest Blade to its edge. The lightning crackled.

  Now or never, Cass.

  She threw it, throwing all her Will behind the blade’s flight. She angled it between the plates of lvl 29’s arm armor.

  “What!” 29 grunted as the lightning jolted down his body.

  “We’re under attack!” lvl 32 shouted.

  Cass threw another pair of Tempest Blades down the hall as she retreated from the men, keeping her distance. 32 stepped in the way, his shield taking both blades, leaving burnt metal across its face.

  “The demon!” he yelled and charged down the hallway.

  29 joined him as the lightning stun wore off, speeding up to run shoulder to shoulder with 32.

  Ready, Salos? Cass asked.

  Ready, he said, leaping from her shoulder.

  She didn’t know if she was, but she did it anyway. She threw another set of Tempest Blades. One hit each of the paladin’s shields, doing nothing but burning the paint.

  But the third blade she made of wind. She Stepped on it, riding it over their shoulders and twisting around them. As she landed, she pulled at Salos: Shifting Mind!

  The world twisted around them. She was again standing in front of the charging soldiers. They loomed in front of her tiny cat body.

  But Salos, now wearing her form and holding his dagger, was behind them.

  In his hands, the dagger slid between armor plates of 32, cutting unseen for even more damage, his Hidden Edge skill multiplying the damage his blade did going in and coming out again.

  32 grunted in pain as the blade came out again. He spun around, his sword leading. Salos stepped back, the blade tip passing within a breath of his skin, before diving back in, his blade punching through plate metal to find purchase in 32’s side.

  It took 29 another second to register that his quarry was no longer in front of him or to realize that the grunting of his partner meant they were behind him.

  Cass could see understanding bloom in his eyes. But she wouldn’t let him join his ally against Salos.

  She darted forward in the cat form, pulling hard on Elemental Manipulation, flames springing from her feet. She slashed at 29’s ankles, her flames heating his greaves, but her claws failing to break the metal plates.

  He stomped and stabbed down around her.

  She Dodged out of the way of foot and blade, too fast and too small to be hit.

  But she couldn’t hurt him, either. Maybe if she could summon lightning with Elemental Manipulation, she could stun him, but for now, only Tempest Blade could create lightning from nothing, and she still needed a weapon to channel that skill through.

  Salos was having no such difficulties.

  He ducked under 32’s sword, driving his dagger into a gap in the man’s armor, between thigh and knee, and pulling it free again with a spurt of crimson blood.

  32 swung his shield in between them, belatedly. But Salos had already moved, twisting around his left shoulder, and driving the blade under 32’s pauldron.

  29 swung at her again. She leapt up onto the arm. With her Dexterity and current size, it was little different from when she had run up the arms of the golems in the Catacombs. She left flaming footprints across his armor with Elemental Manipulation.

  He didn’t even bother to swat them out, that was how little the fire bothered him.

  He dropped his shield to reach for her.

  She slipped around his hand, her claws reaching for his neck. Surely, flames to his direct skin would do something. His gorget covered most of it, but there was a crack between the metal collar and his chin.

  Her claws swept across it.

  She drew blood. There was the scalding smell of flesh.

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  29 grunted.

  His hand grabbed her by the scruff. “Gotcha!”

  She howled, twisting and scratching. But his hand and arms were armored.

  He grinned at her. The blood on his chin could have been mistaken for a shaving accident.

  He raised his sword and leveled it with her chest.

  She snarled. She struggled. But his hand was a vice and her body was so small, her Strength so low.

  Alacrity burned, speeding her thoughts as she looked for another answer.

  Stamina: 124/138

  Focus: 395/549

  Health: 68/133

  She couldn’t claw her way out. Fire had done nothing. She couldn’t use Tempest Blades without a weapon. His stupid metal hand held her tight.

  If only she could manipulate metal.

  Could she?

  Not directly. Metal still ignored her attempts at direct manipulation. But, there were many ways to manipulate things indirectly…

  She summoned a ball of water above her and slammed it into his hand. Some of the water ran off the metal, dripping to the floor. But plenty filled the space between his hand and the glove.

  She dropped the temperature on the water. The cold crept through the metal and into her fur. She ignored it, pulling the temperature down.

  There was a creaking.

  A crack.

  Focus: 335/549

  A scream.

  After all, what was the difference between a metal glove and a metal hinge?

  He dropped her and his sword. He clenched the frost encased hand with his now empty free hand. The metal of his glove was ruptured from the sudden increase in internal pressure, his hand pinched from the sudden loss in space.

  Cass dashed away.

  That had worked even better than she’d expected. Physics was great.

  Could she do that again? Maybe to another body part?

  No, she was probably limited to enclosed parts, like the fingers of his gloves. The ice had too much room to expand out the sides of his less enclosed plates around his arms and legs, and she didn’t think she could summon or freeze enough water simultaneously to burst his chest plate.

  But hands and feet in gloves and boots? That seemed doable.

  She darted between his legs, summoning more water and forcing it down his boots. It splashed around his feet and over the glass-slick floor.

  Before 29 could take a step away, Cass had already shifted Element Manipulation from summoning water to freezing it. The ice formed inside his metal shoes, the metal buckling and snapping. He grit his teeth, suppressing further screams.

  The water on his legs froze around him, arresting his movements as the ice spread further. A sheet of glass-smooth ice bloomed around his feet, its mirror finish reflecting his struggle as he pushed against the binding.

  Focus: 272/549

  The ice didn’t restrict him long. It cracked under his far greater Strength. But Cass had expected that.

  In throwing his weight against the ice at his feet, he was off balance. His next step—so sure it would be on solid ground—was unprepared for the slick ice. His foot slid out from under him. He crashed to the floor.

  Cass leaped onto his chest and summoned another round of water over his body. She didn’t expect to burst the metal of his chest armor, but the ice could freeze him in place.

  He struggled against it, pulling one arm out of the ice, only to push against the frost-covered floor with the other.

  Cass froze the lowered arm. Again and again. It wouldn’t hold him forever. Her Focus wouldn’t keep up.

  But it just needed to be long enough for Salos to do his work on 32.

  Focus: 248/549

  And boy was he.

  He snaked around the paladin, far faster than the man had any way to respond. Salos’s blade found gap after gap. Shoulder, thigh, back. Not every strike triggered Hidden Edge, but many did.

  Blood dripped from countless wounds. The paladin’s tabard was stained with blood, the green turning a grisly brown.

  And not for a second did Salos let up.

  The paladin swung after Salos, his sword glowing with some skill. It didn’t matter. It had to connect with Salos to do something to him, and it didn’t so much as brush Cass’s cloak hem.

  His dagger slipped under the man’s armor. A strap was cut, a plate fell and bounced across the floor.

  This, Salos whispered across their bond, dodging around another sword strike, is why Dexterity is the best stat.

  Watching him dismantle the paladin, it was a compelling argument.

  The paladin’s sword slashed after Salos, but he effortlessly ducked it, diving into the man’s guard and burying the dagger in his chest, puncturing plate mail like it wasn’t even there.

  The paladin staggered, but he grit his teeth in a bloody grimace. “You think you can kill one of Fortitude’s Righteous?”

  Salos pulled back, dodging out of the way of yet another sword strike. He scowled at the paladin with her face. “That should have punctured your heart. What are you made of?”

  It was strange to hear him speaking with her voice. Strange to hear her voice with that much disdain.

  32 grinned, though he must be hurting, even with his supernatural amounts of Fortitude. He pounded his chest, seemingly unconcerned about the amount of blood pouring from his latest wounds. “I fight to rid this world of your vile kind. You think the goddess would let her faithful fall before you?”

  Salos looked entirely unimpressed, yet concern simmered under the surface, bubbling over their bond.

  What’s wrong? she asked.

  Their skin and armor are reinforced with some skill. The body within is largely standard, if backed by frankly unnecessary levels of Fortitude, Salos explained. Not surprising, just annoying. Slightly more problematic, I think they have another skill—or with our luck, goddess-granted trait—protecting their hearts. That last stab should have killed him. Instead, it felt like I hit stone.

  How problematic is ‘slightly more’? Cass asked as she added another layer of frost to the paladin below her.

  Depends how reinforced their necks are, Salos muttered. Fortitude specialists are the worst. You can cut their limbs off, but as long as they are alive, they’ll just keep coming. They just don’t feel the pain like they should. There is no stopping power in any of the wounds you inflict. I hate them. The only thing worse is Vitality specialists.

  32 rushed at Salos again, entirely unconcerned about the trail of blood he was leaving. Salos slipped around him, his dagger angling for the man’s throat.

  A breath before it connected, a shimmering panel of light appeared between Salos’s blade and his target, turning the blade aside.

  “My goddess protects me, demon!” 32 taunted, his sword swinging around for another strike.

  “Abyss,” Salos cursed.

  He stepped out of the way. Or tried to. The blade got a piece of him, leaving a long gash on Salos’s—her body’s—thigh.

  Salos cursed again, shaking his head. This is going to be very annoying.

  You okay? Cass asked.

  Focus on your opponent, Salos grunted.

  29 jerked up, the ice between them cracking into shards with the sudden movement and sending Cass sprawling.

  Cass scrambled away from him, spreading another layer of ice over the floor around them as she fled.

  It looks like we’ll have to bleed them out, Salos continued, more to himself than Cass. I hate having to cut down Health reserves.

  29 staggered to stand, his feet slipping over the ice.

  I sliced this one’s neck earlier, Cass pointed out.

  Suggesting it isn’t an automatic skill, like his heart? Small comforts, I guess.

  Down the hall, Salos launched another attack on 32, his dagger dancing into opening after opening. Blood spurted from gaps in 32’s armor.

  32 swung his sword at Salos’s hip.

  Salos melted around the sword. There one moment and nothing but a shadow as he appeared behind his opponent the next. His dagger stabbed at 32’s neck from what should have been a blind spot.

  A shimmering green shield materialized between blade tip and Fortitude-reinforced skin.

  Fortitude’s Protection

  [A spell created by the faithful of Fortitude to protect their cause.]

  The skill was very similar to the one the captain had used to protect his subordinates and the priestess, although this was much smaller than the version he’d used.

  Cass shared the notification with Salos.

  He clicked his tongue. I hate Fortitude specialists.

  But he didn’t slow.

  His dagger found its way between ribs, through joints, into muscle and bone, twisting and pulling free with more blood. Yet the man refused to fall.