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Even though Mirian\'s face was concealed by her helm, her feet scuffed across the ground as she moved a step back. She was definitely worried.

"I\'m not scared of someone like you," Mirian spat. She glanced down at her feet, then took a step forward as if to prove her own words to herself. "Cheap tricks aren\'t going to win anything for you."

A part of Alex wondered how correct Mirian was. He couldn\'t sense Absolution\'s energy in the same way that he\'d felt Zeal\'s. He was definitely weaker than the old man — but he also couldn\'t sense Mirian, so she wasn\'t anywhere near his level either.

"Enough chatter," Drake called. "End him, Mirian. We don\'t need any theatre on this one. Nobody here wants to see Absolution take any more breaths than he has to. Put the Crestless bastard down."

Mirian charged forward with a roar. Her heavy footfalls rang against the ground like thunderous applause, each one striking the stage with enough force to shake it. She reared back and swung the massive hammer in her hands at Absolution\'s head, aiming to kill him on the spot.

The gray-skinned man vanished, and the hammer passed through the air where he\'d been standing harmlessly. He reformed a few feet to the side. His scythe hooked out for Mirian\'s arm and rang off her armor with a melodious clang.

She let out a furious snarl and spun with the force of her previous blow, twisting in a full circle. The end of her hammer ignited in molten flame and it crashed back down for Absolution like a meteor. This strike moved with easily two times the speed of the last one.

Once more, Absolution blinked out of the way. His scythe shot out and connected with Mirian\'s armor a second time, and a second time it did nothing but ring harmlessly.

Mirian swung her hammer a third time. She hadn\'t lost so much as an iota of momentum from the previous two attacks, and her speed had progressed to the point where Alex could barely even follow her movements.

She swung the hammer again and again. Every strike came faster than the last — if they could even be considered different attacks. It was more like one flowing attack that would have no end until her hammer connected with Absolution.

Tongues of flame danced through the air as they were caught into a hurricane, twisting around Mirian\'s entire body and casting their golden-orange light across the stage. She wasn\'t even leaving a second for Absolution to get a real counter-attack in. All he could do was dodge.

She\'s got him on the backfoot. I don\'t know what their ranks are, but it really looks like Absolution is at a pretty big disadvantage here. How is he supposed to get us a way to Orchid if he can\'t get a moment to fight back against Mirian?

"Ten Credits on Mirian crushing the Crestless idiot\'s skull like a grape," a man in the crowd called.

"I\'ll take you up on that," a woman replied. "Absoltuion has been a thorn for years. If some worthless half-core could kill him, then they already would have. Do you have any idea how many people the Firesong family has lost against him, much less the other families?"

"I\'ll raise that bet to 20 Credits. He\'s more restricted now than ever," another woman\'s voice joined the argument. "Absolution is getting arrogant. He thinks he can play by the rules he likes and skirt the ones he doesn\'t. Drake doesn\'t train slouches. He\'s done for."

"Taken," a second man called. "I\'m looking forward to getting your money."

A dozen other voices rose up into the air, calling out bids of their own.

"Fifty Credits on Absolution defeating Mirian!" Alex called, trying to disguise just how stiff his body was as he watched the gray-skinned man narrowly dodge yet another molten strike. It really did look like Mirian had him down to rights.

"You\'re on," a large, barrel-chested man said with a booming laugh.

Claire shot Alex a look.

"What?" Alex whispered. "It\'s not like we\'ll be paying them back anyway."

An explosive crash roared through the room as Mirian\'s hammer finally collided with something. Everyone spun back to the stage as a geyser of flame erupted from the ground where her hammer had struck.

Fragments of stone and melted rock flew up all around her. A dim blue dome flickered to life around the stage as the pieces flew free. They struck the dome\'s surface and froze in place, sending ripples across the energy making up its surface. The debris clattered down all around Mirian like rain.

"There," Mirian said, pulling her hammer free from the ground without so much as a grunt of effort. "Good riddance."

Everyone stared at her.

Not because of the cocky words, but because Absolution was standing directly behind her, leaning on his scythe.

"What are you talking about?" Drake asked. "You missed, you daft woman."

"What? No I didn\'t.," Mirian said. She craned her neck back to look up at the buzzing dome above her. "Put this thing down. The Challenge is over. Absolution is dead. His body is right here. Little burnt and squashed up, but its here."

She nudged an empty spot on the ground with her foot.

Alex\'s skin prickled. Even though he was temporarily allied with Absolution, something felt deeply wrong. Anticipation and unease built in his chest like the tide receding in preparation of a tidal wave.

What kind of magic does Absolution have?

"He\'s behind you!" Drake roared. "Turn around!"

Mirian glanced over her shoulder, then back to Drake. "Are you rocked in the head? There\'s nothing there."

Absolution smiled. He tapped his scythe against the ground. Coils of black energy gathered around Mirian. Lines as dark as the night materialized all over her armor. They burned with power, connecting to form a complex pattern that definitely would have had a meaning if Alex could understand it.

Mirian didn\'t seem to notice the lines. She turned back and forth, alternating between squinting up at the dome and looking around herself.

"Why won\'t anyone let me out of here?" Mirian demanded. "The fight is over! Are you all insane?"

"He\'s right there!" Drake roared, thrusting a finger to point behind Mirian as Absolution walked up behind her.

Mirian spun. Her eyes focused right on the spot where Absolution stood — and went right past him. She couldn\'t see him at all.

"It\'s pointless," Absolution said. "I have already carved the scripture across her. Such is the drawback of so much armor. It is impossible to determine when you have been scratched by the tip of a passing weapon."

He managed to draw that complex thing with his Scythe while Mirian was trying to smash his brains out? There\'s no way.

"Release your Manifestation!" Drake roared. "Now!"

"Too late," Absolution said. The gills on his neck flared, and the dark smoke pouring off Mirian streamed into them. He drew in a deep breath, then let out a shuddering sigh. "The lamb has already been led to slaughter."

Man, Absolution really likes his slightly edgy and ominous one-liners, doesn\'t he?

Absolution\'s eyes shifted to Alex for the briefest of instants. For a moment, Alex thought the man had somehow heard his thoughts. Then he realized that there was a message in the gaze. It was a warning.

It\'s time. He\'s going to do something to let us get to Orchid.

Alex and Claire both quietly exchanged a nod and readied themselves. They had no idea what Absolution was up to, so the best they could do was to be prepared to take advantage of it before anyone else could.

Drake opened his mouth to yell something else, but Absolution was already moving.

His scythe flicked up in what could almost have been described as a lazy arc. It slammed into Mirian\'s back, just like a dozen strikes before it had, but this one was different. Instead of ringing off the armor, it carried right on.

That wasn\'t to say the armor was pierced. Absolution hadn\'t cut it at all. His scythe had passed right through the metal as if nothing was there, leaving it whole as it found its true target and lodged directly in Mirian\'s heart.

"The sacrificial blade always finds the heart of the lamb," Absolution whispered, his words cutting across the suddenly silent room. "Once death has set its sights on the sacrifice, nothing can stand in its path. Let that be a reminder to you all. Fat pigs with your mouths stuffed full of slop. May you all bathe in the rot."

Then he ripped his scythe free.

A gout of blood followed in its wake. Mirian collapsed, plummeting the ground as her body shrank, returning to its normal size. Alex didn\'t even need to check to tell that the woman was dead — but it didn\'t seem like Absolution was done.

Before she\'d even landed, Absolution thrust a palm forward. Black poured from between his lips and sank into Mirian\'s body. Her flesh and armor bubbled, then warped. Two pillars rose up from her, formed of a conglomeration of flesh and metal.

Black energy snapped into life between them, and a spinning portal yawned open. Absolution staggered, leaning heavily on his staff as a wave of exhaustion seemed to slam into him.

God, that\'s disgusting.

The glistening blue dome around the stage collapsed. The fight was officially over.

Claire and Alex exploded into motion. It wasn\'t hard to tell what Absolution\'s way out for them was. Alex had absolutely no idea how the gray-skinned man planned to survive the rest of the Offworlders, but that was his problems.

Surprised yells rang out all around him as he shoved through the crowd.

"Don\'t let them get past you!" Drake yelled as they burst free and ran for the portal. "They\'re working with Absolution!"

But they were already on the stage by the time the words left his lips.

Offworlders surged forward, but they were too late to do anything but watch Alex and Claire clasp hands and fling themselves into the portal.

"Follow them!" Leah yelled.

And instant later, all the sound from the Assembly was swallowed by the darkness.

Alex hurtled through the void toward — presumably — where Orchid was held. He just hoped that Drake didn\'t have any way to warn his people that they were coming. They weren\'t going to have much time to act. The other Offworlders were going to be right on their asses. They\'d have to grab Orchid and escape to the Mirrorlands as quickly as possible.

Then the world was gone, and there was no more time for thought.