The purple and blue canopy flitted below Ethan as he beat his wings and flew deep in the cave. Wind whistled about him, and Ethan found himself smiling as he approached the stalactites that hung down from cave's ceiling.

Flying was really the highlight of the week so far. Gun to his head, if he'd been forced to chose one single spellform to keep, he'd have to say wings. Scales were a close second, considering they were a form of invulnerability and that was a pretty damn cool superpower as well, and scales allowed him to do without clothes, but wings would still win.

Then again, is a gun to my head a threat at this point?

His musing were interrupted when Ember adjusted her grip on his shoulders, and he went back to watching the battles below. It was mostly lizardlings and monitors, but soon enough, he started to see more and more of the new variants, until finally, he lay eyes on the largest creature yet.

It was giant, moss covered thing that basically looked like a mean, angular swamp monitor on steroids.

[Lord of the Swamp (II) - Level 70]

That's a big one. And tier-2?

It was being bombarded by fire and spears, but it was as if the creature was made of metal. The spears couldn't pierce through, and the fire of the lizardlings and their drakes couldn't even manage to singe the sparse coating of moss of the monster.

Though a bit beyond, Ethan noticed some movement.

People?

"[We probably shouldn't get too close just yet…]"

Ethan raised a brow and tilted his head back, but he couldn't get a good angle to see the cat. "Why?" he shouted over the wind ruffling his hair.

"[It's a tier-2, and it has nearly 20 levels on you. 10 levels on me. We're not ready. And they most certainly are not, either.]"

Ethan hummed and looked away from the monster, focusing instead on the movement he perceived. The cat wasn't wrong about the gap being still too wide, but he wanted to give it a shot. Especially now that he was rested and had just gone through a round of upgrades.

Plus, this could be a good test for Scorching Ascendency. It might allow me to bridge the gap. And… and—

Ethan's thought trailed off as he saw the first person step out of the brush, followed by one more, and then a third he recognized. A man with a black eye, multiple contusions, and a concerning discolouration on his left arm.

Ethan came to a stop, hundreds of feet above ground and frowned. Was that Diego?

The lively man he'd met a couple of days ago looked dead on his feet, and as he looked at the new people being forced into the battlefield, he noticed all of them were showing all kinds of signs of distress. Some had torn clothes. Some were shaking, the white of their eyes showing as they took into the beast ahead, and Ethan realized that all of them had decent levels.

The lowest was level 35, while the highest was Diego with 48 levels.

Then a sixth person was pushed out in the clearing at the end of a spear, and Ethan knew then he might have just found a new and dangerous group.

Amanda came tumbling into the clearing, face muddied, but she quickly and smoothly got back up and eyed the battlefield—

"[Watch out!]"

Ethan dropped out of the air, instantly disabling his wings' thrust and letting gravity pull him down as a flare of purple zipped above him. To his alarm, he saw it hit the ceiling and flash toward him once more, intent on hitting its mark.

Well, if it was coming at him no matter what, he might as well see what it's capable of.

"Bring it," he said, teeth bared. The [Draconic Wings] were supposed to shield him from spells, so Ethan wrapped the giant limbs around him and Ember. The purple magic zapped him between two joints, on the almost black, leathery membrane, and it was as if a bolt of lightning had fell down from the sky to smite him down. It was also as if he just happened be holding on to a grounding rod, so while the zap was alarming and jolting, it didn't do that much damage. The magic spread instantly up his joints, making them twitch and burn for a second, and almost as quickly as it came, it faded.

Ethan looked down to see three more identical spells coming toward them from a man that had a mane of purple hair crackling around his features. Angling his wings, Ethan began circling away as he took stock of his opponent. The man was wearing thick boots, cargo pants, and a black t-shirt riddled with holes. He raised the wand, and shot more of the jagged purple spells while shouting something behind him.

[Human (I) - Level 48]

Ethan dropped out of the air, losing the spells behind him as his mind churning as a few more people wearing a mishmash of para-military garb popped out of the woods. Then he looked past them. He could see it. It was only a few minutes of flight away. Hovering in the air like a scar in reality itself.

The rift.

I could just rush it. Right here. Right now.

As soon as the thought came to him, he knew he couldn't do it.

Amanda's a schemer and sure, I don't trust her, but being used as fodder, even though it might be something she'd do herself, isn't acceptable. Diego's a cool dude, and some of those strangers being forced into the lord's maw might be innocent.

Ethan wasn't having it. He himself had been once used as a disposable pawn, a long time ago. Blackmailed and threatened into doing someone else's bidding and when he tried to dismantle that person's schemes, he got shot for it.

This… what he was seeing stank of the same rot. Only, there wasn't a system of laws the bastards need to work around. They could use straight and simple physical violence to force their will upon other, and every second that went by, the blaze in his heart burnt hotter. Darker.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"[Ethan. What's happening?]"

The Ignisra's voice pulled jerked him out of the spiral he was slowly being overtaken by.

"Bad memories. I'm good. We're getting those people out. You in?"

He knew this could get dicey, and he wasn't putting the Ignisra's life in danger for his own personal issues. But he wasn't walking away from here without a fight.

Too bad there was a monster nearby that was quickly working through the lizardlings that were keeping it busy. Well. Busy was a strong word. They were mostly bothering it, and aside from the occasional swatting, it didn't seem to care much for the buzzing insects around it—including the scheming humans—so Ethan turned his attention back to the ever-closing ground.

Air rushed about him as he dropped down. He needed a bit of cover. Just a little time to decide how to go about things.

"[Fine. I'll help.]"

"[You don't have to,]" he sent back as he dipped behind the cover of the mushroom trees, landing on his feet quietly. Ethan stood still, staring north as Ember hopped off his horns.

"[I know I don't have to. But you'll owe me more if I do,]" she said, giving him a smug look that managed to force a smile out of him before he looked back toward his targets.

Were those paramilitary? Mercenaries?

Whatever they were, they clearly didn't take kindly to being refused. Diego seemed like a wildly free person, and being beaten and bruised as he was said a lot about these new people.

They're not weak, either.

Ethan felt a nervous smile creep up the corners of his mouth. Most were in the high forties, and two had cracked fifty. Could he handle them? What were they capable of? Ethan still hadn't gotten the highest-level crown back. Was it one of them that was holding on to it?

"[What are we doing about the lord? It's too close to us.]"

Ethan looked down at the cat and at her swishing tail. She didn't seem that put out. Not even close. In fact, he believed he could see something peeking in her slitted eyes.

Excitement.

Ethan thought about it, then shook his head. "We'll keep away from it. I'd rather take my time and enjoy the fight, not deal with both groups at the same time. I'll hold off on antagonizing the big bad monster, but I got a batch of shitty humans to deal with first."

These people would have used Amelie and the others the same way. As disposable pawns to be sacrificed, and it seems like their brutal methods had allowed them to amass quite a few levels.

Ethan cracked his neck and stretched his legs as he looked down at the cat. "What will you do?"

"[Hmm. I don't know yet,]" the cat said, licking her paws while her eyes never stepped staring past him. She was acting as if she wasn't that interested, but Ethan noted she hadn't even blinked yet. "[I could work on liberating the humans you want to save? I recognize the sneaky woman. Or maybe I should stick around in case you need help? You shouldn't hunt alone in a situation such as this.]"

Ethan raised a brow, then chuckled. "Yeah, I had a suspicion she might have snooped close to camp. But fair enough. Stick around for now, and if it's easy enough for me to deal with alone, go and free the others up. Take them away back to the others if you can, and I'll deal with the garbage."

A bracelet of pinkish-gold appeared over the cat's ankle, and her sharp stare swivelled up to him for a second before returning north."[Alright. I want part of the loot, if there's anything that crappy dagger would give.]"

Ethan reached down and pulled the Harvester's Dagger out of his dimensional pouch. The blade was growing more and more chipped by the day, and for a second, he felt a bit of regret at not selecting the looting trait. Then again, this was a scenario where a boost in stat was more valuable than loot.

Alright, dagger, one more fight. Don't die on me just yet.

He changed the grip so it'd point down, and took the first step. "Let's go."

A rush of adrenaline spread out of his chest as he broke into a jog. Something pulsed deep within his chest, and in his mind's eye, he could easily picture this new group as humanoid monsters with malice in their eyes, and chains in their hands. Chains that hadn't tried to get a grip on him just yet, but they would in time. And he wanted to tear them apart. Melt them. Burn them.

Ethan ran. Step after step, he picked up speed, and a corona of gold and red light began building around him, trailing in his wake like the tail of a comet. His red scales reflected the light of the bonfires surrounding his black talons and within seconds, the first spell hit him and plinked uselessly against his scaled forehead.

Ethan grunted. That spell might have had a chance of doing a little bit of damage if he hadn't been running. After all, his Toughness and Might were being bolstered by the horns. If he hadn't been… it might have gotten a drop of blood.

Bullies. Only effective against those who can't fight back.

Another sharp metallic dart slammed into his shoulder, followed by the jagged purple spells and soon, more and more spells showered him as he kept gaining momentum until finally, he broke into the clearing they were in, and he saw the four from across the space.

His eyes went from one face to the next, committing them to memories and seeing if he recognized any of them when he froze on the third, and all the other faces blurred away as he met the individual's eyes.

He immediately recognized him.

Edwin Davis.

Ethan almost stumbled as ice cold vitriol spread out of his guts, and he roared, veins standing out around his neck as everything but the face that had haunted his nightmares, the face he'd always expected to see whenever he'd turn a corner, or get on a bus, or go out to throw the trash appeared before him.

A fit, stocky man. A scar on the right side of a sharp chin. A crooked nose that'd been broken too many times—one time by Ethan himsef. Frigid blue eyes that had watched him bleed out in an abandoned warehouse before the man fell off the face of the Earth. For years after, Ethan has had to constantly look over his shoulders. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for this sociopath to make him pay for having brought his actions to light. To come after him. Or after Luther. Whenever his phone rang, Ethan's heart-rate picked up.

He kept waiting. He knew Edwin would come back someday. And Ethan didn't have to wait anymore.

Ethan tore through the soil separating them. He believed he saw shapes move out of the way, but he didn't care for the insects Edwin surrounded himself with. He only had eyes for the man.

The fire around his scales raged along with him, flaring out into a cocoon that burnt out the spells coming at him, shielding him from whatever managed to survive the fire only to land uselessly against his scales. Ethan cared for none of it.

Everything but Edwin didn't matter. An old nightmare was back, but this time, he could do something about it.

[Human (I) - Level 56]

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