The village had been attacked, and Ethan didn’t know what to do. These weren’t monsters, they were men, and he’d been told there was a separate system in place for dealing with the Unbound. His injuries ached as he squatted behind the village wall with Maggie and Glenn, who were both hastily surveying the area, trying to get a sense of what was going on.

  Maggie took charge. “The fields to the North are filled with dozens of bandits, Netta can see them,” referring to her owl Familiar that acted as an effective scout. “There’s more in the village center, it looks like they’ve been here for days.”

  “Which do you want?” Glenn asked.

  “I’ll take the fields. They’re spread out and I’m faster. You head toward the village square. Take him,” she said, indicating Ethan.

  Glenn nodded and Maggie didn’t wait, sprinting off toward the field. Her armor appeared around her as she ran, and she drew her deadly twin axes. Ethan looked to Glenn for guidance. “What do we do?” he asked, not ready for the answer he knew was coming.

  “Kingdom Patrol isn’t here; we are,” he said in a serious tone. “We march in, but don’t fight right away. No way to know how many villagers are in there, and keeping them alive is the priority. If we can get the bandits attention on us, it’ll be the best case scenario.”

  “Okay,” Ethan said with uncertainty. If these were monsters, he’d be in stealth and waiting to stab something, but it was hard to even make his brain think that way under the circumstances. He dutifully followed Glenn back to the main road, and they both equipped their full combat gear. “I’ve been working on my Astral attacks,” he told the knight. “I think I can do what Valanor did.”

  Glenn stopped, his helmeted head turning to his charge. “We’re past that, Ethan,” he said with grim finality. “Focus on keeping the hostages alive, but don’t kid yourself into thinking this doesn’t end with blood.” Ethan didn’t know how to react to that, and simply followed the resolute knight further into town.

  As they walked, they saw further signs of the bandit’s occupation. There were splatters of blood on the walls, and more bodies–though fewer than Ethan feared. There were also bandits, many bandits. Their reaction was surprising, as they didn’t panic or shout, instead just smiling wickedly and following the pair from a safe distance.

  Ethan whispered for Tomo to be ready, focusing on how he’d need to contain his Spirit’s outburst this time–especially if there were villagers nearby. Glenn might be prepared for blood, but Ethan was still a doctor, monster Hunting wouldn’t change that.

  Soon they were approaching the village square, which was transformed by the oil derrick having been pulled down. It lay in ruins, the valuable monster gem that had fueled the fields’ rapid growth already gone. There were more bandits here, of course, bringing the total into the twenties at least. Some held villagers, equally prizes and human shields, and Ethan felt his anger building.

  Glenn continued forward, seemingly content to draw the bandits to him like a lodestone. Ethan saw the value of the tactic now, as the knight could likely take them down in swaths with his great sword if they gathered together. Chasing them down into individual buildings would have been a bloodbath, with every villager a potential hostage.

  The knight was heading toward a large man in the center of the square. He was much like the previous two men Ethan had seen who were presumably leaders in the bandit crew. He was burly, and covered in animal furs despite the day’s heat. His skin was sun-scorched and heavily tattooed, but oddly he was unarmed.

  When the pair came around the wreckage of the derrick, it revealed what the man was doing. Carl was on the ground, bloody and brutalized, with one eye sealed shut and a leg bent at an awkward angle. Bella was nowhere to be found, and the bandit leader appeared to be kicking the elf for amusement. Ethan began to shake with fury, but Glenn held a hand out slightly to hold him back.

  “Enough,” the knight said, and the command in his voice was impressive. The bandit turned to them, smiling, and strode forward. Ethan’s eyes flickered from side to side, taking in exactly how surrounded they were, and trying to remind himself these were just normal humans. The brutality of the scene made that thought worse.

  “Finally someone comes!” the large man said, towering over Glenn. “I was beginning to think no one cared if I took this town for my own.”

  “I care,” Glenn said, acid in his voice.

  “Ah, the brave little knight is here to stop us, everyone! Should we run?” The group burst into laughter, and Glenn’s two handed sword appeared in answer. The bandit leader laughed harder. “The little knight thinks to fight us!” he said in a mocking tone.

  Glenn didn’t speak further, and didn’t hesitate. His enormous sword struck out, both arms straining as the blade swung horizontally through the air. Its razor sharp edge bit into the laughing man’s side…and stopped.

  Ethan’s jaw dropped as the bandit leader looked down at the sword, stuck barely an inch into his torso, which had turned to stone. “You think to bring down the mighty Gunther with that pathetic strike? It really is true how inferior the knights are.” Glenn began tugging desperately on his sword, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “Do you want to see what a real Hunter can do?” Gunther, leader of the bandits and the man who’d paralyzed Cara Fletcher said with derision. He lifted his arms, and an enormous, polished silver ax appeared, poised above his head. Ethan didn’t even have time to move as the blade came down with a massive chop.

  It blasted through Glenn’s armor, embedding itself in the man’s chest with a sick, wet thunk. The knight dropped like a stone, his legs collapsing under him. Gunther turned to Ethan next, as the other bandits laughed hysterically around them.

  “Glenn…you–” Ethan stuttered.

  “You should worry about yourself, little Hunter,” Gunther said, taking a menacing step forward.

  “Tomo, now!” Ethan managed to shout, and his vision slipped into the Astral. Immediately he saw his own Spirit, holding its arms out wide as it screamed with pain and fury. The closest bandits took a step back, beginning to tremble, but then Gunther let out another long laugh.

  “This is what you try?” he said in disbelief. The man’s own Spirit glowed brightly with Dawn’s power, and an insect like a large dragonfly hovered above it. The Familiar began to quiver, and small stingers started flying outward in every direction, each one connecting with a bandit.

  Their trembling stopped, and each person stung reached up to grab their head, wailing. The weak wisp of energy that was their Unbound spirits began to glow a sickly red, and then they were shrieking with anger and glee. Ethan’s vision returned to normal as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

  Gunther had somehow driven the other bandits mad. They drew weapons, and charged away in every direction. It took only a moment for Ethan to realize they were all searching for villagers, as screams erupted from all around him.

  They were going to kill everyone.

  Gunther laughed even louder, apparently seeing the terror and panic he’d elicited. Ethan swallowed, his mind failing him. He looked down at Glenn, who was barely moving, then over at the first of the villagers to fall. It was Rebecca, the cook at the Inn. She collapsed to the ground, her throat slit and blood spilling out.

  Ethan saw it all, and felt something break inside him. His vision went red, the rage and frustration and impotence all exploding at once. He heard himself screaming as he summoned his powers without conscious thought.

  Knives flew as Ethan disappeared in a flash of blue-white light. Two bandits fell, hearts pierced. He was on the other side of the square then, and wakizashis stabbed out with surprisingly steady hands. Ethan learned what it felt like to sink a weapon into another human being, and his mind absently registered how much easier it was compared to powerful monsters.

  Four bandits now lay dead or dying. Gunther looked around in shock, trying and failing to chase down a Hunter that was never in the same place for more than a moment. He was finally forced to give up when a massive white dog charged into him from behind. Ethan kept moving.

  He was inside someone’s home, and a bandit felt a blade pierce through his chest from behind, black death exploding out in its wake. Ethan was back in the square as three more bandits ran in the other direction. Columns of fire erupted beneath them, consuming them utterly in the blasts.

  Eight dead bandits.

  Four more ran into the Inn, their bloodthirst like a scent Ethan could follow through the Astral. He burst out of the second floor window a moment later, a girl under one arm, and the innkeeper over his shoulder. As he landed Revan appeared, breathing a stream of fire into the building, which erupted like kindling.

  Twelve bandits, Ethan’s mind recorded robotically as screams of pain rang out from inside.

  More daggers. More deaths. Ethan didn’t stop. He would appear for a heartbeat, his blades striking out, then he would fade from sight, another bandit falling a moment later. It was easy. Terribly easy, as Valanor had warned. Unbound were nothing in the face of a true Hunter, and Ethan was on the Hunt.

  It had barely been five minutes when Doctor Ethan Bishop reappeared in the center of town. He was drenched in blood from head to toe, though his coat was still a pristine white. “Twenty seven,” he whispered, as he walked toward Gunther.

  ***

  Gunther finally managed to hurl the white dog away from him. The knight’s Familiar had fought with ferocity that rivaled the Hunter with the alarmingly deadly powers who now walked toward him. The bandit leader pushed himself to his feet as the dog disappeared in a puff of light. Gunther spun around, blood running from his stone skin as he took in the sight of a village transformed.

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  There was blood and bodies everywhere, and the inn was burning brightly next to them, the scent of smoke and death thick in the air. He looked at the smaller Hunter with confusion, taking in his blood-drenched state, and eerily calm demeanor.

  “You’ll pay for this,” Gunther said with grim certainty, and the silver ax was suddenly back in his hands.

  As he walked forward, the other man’s twin blades disappeared, and a sickle appeared in one hand, the long black and red chain in the other. Gunther charged, having no interest in wasting more time on the arrogant fool that had dared to slaughter his men. He raised his weapon over his head, charging the same ability that had brought down the knight.

  His opponent’s chain swung forward suddenly, wrapping around the haft of the ax. Gunther simply continued his swing, letting the pull of the chain add to his momentum. Somehow the man jumped backward an enormous distance, unbalancing Gunther’s attack, and forcing the ax into the ground. The bandit leader roared, dropping the ax and charging the man.

  In a flash of light his opponent disappeared, and a heartbeat later Gunther felt a blade pierce deeply into his back. A horrible, ruinous energy exploded inside him, and he coughed up blood while spinning desperately, trying to reach his attacker. Instead he felt the weighted chain wrap around his neck. When he tried to escape, Gunther realized the curved sickle was still lodged in his back, his stone skin only gripping it more tightly.

  He channeled another Affinity, his skin bursting into quills and his hands forming into claws. He kept trying to spin, to get at the madman behind him, but he only caught glimpses of a white coat as the Hunter used his grip on the chained weapon to keep out of reach. The situation only got worse as a dagger began lancing into the backs of his legs a moment later, tearing through sensitive tendons and slowing him down.

  Gunther’s quillursi appeared, the massive bear hurrying to help its master. It fell back with a pained howl as an inferno rushed over it. An enormous cat Familiar with burning tails had appeared, and was unleashing burning devastation. The bandit leader was on his own.

  He was exhausted and losing blood, and felt his knees crash into the ground as he lost his footing. He looked up, his body ravaged by pain. The other Hunter was there suddenly, about twenty paces away. Gunther tried to stand back up, but his legs failed him, the pain feeling like he had lava flowing through his veins.

  When three daggers pierced into his chest, one after another, he fell forward onto his hands, feeling his body giving up. In a strange moment of clarity, he looked curiously at the blades, which glowed with a surprisingly beautiful reddish purple light. The sound of speaking drew his attention, and he lifted his head to see the Hunter chanting a spell.

  “Heaven’s judgment and earth’s burning tears, be joined forever in a symphony of destruction,” the man intoned. There was a flash of orange light, and then Gunther saw no more.

  ***

  Ethan raced up to Glenn. Twenty-eight, his mind repeated over and over as his doctor’s eyes examined his wounded friend. Glenn was choking on his own blood. His helmet had come off as he fell to the ground, and he looked at Ethan with the confused desperation of someone who knew he was about to die.

  [Apollo’s Gaze] went to work without any conscious thought, confirming what Ethan already knew to be true. The ax had embedded itself several inches into the knight’s chest, cutting diagonally across his body. The collar bone, sternum, and ribs had been shattered, and shards of splintered bone were lodged everywhere. Worse than that, his heart and lungs had both been pierced.

  Only the man’s Dawn rank power had kept him alive at all, and he still appeared to be moments from death. Ethan looked into his friend’s pleading eyes. Twenty-eight, he heard echoing through his mind. Doctor, he tried to insist. Murderer! You killed them all! Ethan put his right hand on Glenn’s chest.

  Murderer!

  Doctor.

  Twenty-Eight!

  Healer.

  Liar!

  Power flowed outward, rushing into Glenn’s fading body. Ethan’s mind dutifully laid out the treatment. Stop the bleeding. Remove the bone fragments. Repair the heart, encourage normal circulatory activity. Lungs next, oxygenate the blood until the patient can do it himself. Set the bones, stabilize them for healing. Repair lacerated tissue. Fluids, antibiotics, rest.

  Beneath his hands, Glenn’s body rapidly put itself back together. The choking, bloody coughs were replaced by even breathing. The panicked shakes and muscle spasms calmed, and in moments, the knight was staring up at Ethan, perfectly healed…and completely aware.

  He didn’t speak as Ethan removed his hands and slumped backward. Glenn reached up to touch his repaired chest, his hand quivering as he felt the unmarred flesh. He looked down in confusion, then back at Ethan, his mouth open, eyes searching.

  Ethan stood up, taking a few shaky steps backward. Glenn slowly stood up as well. He looked around the village at the scene of brutality and destruction, eyes lingering on the burnt remains of Gunther, which were still smoking. His hand never left the spot where he’d been injured, and he was still staring at it when Maggie came running up behind him.

  Glenn heard the telltale stomp of the knight’s armored feet, and dismissed his ruined plate before turning around. He was still covered in his own blood, but kept an arm pressed against his torn shirt. Maggie slowed to a stop, looking at what Ethan had done to the bandits, then she eyed Glenn, her expression unreadable inside her helmet.

  “Took a bad hit,” Glenn said quickly, only sounding a little shaken. “It was Gunther, the bandit leader–the Hunter–bastard got me with an ax. I’m alright, but my armor was badly damaged. Metal was stabbing into me. We got him though,” he added hastily, indicating the unrecognizable corpse.

  Maggie looked where he was pointing. “Good. The traitor deserved what he got. We need to get back to Corvale immediately though, I was…less successful.”

  “What do you mean?” Glenn asked.

  “There were too many of them, and they all went scrambling in different directions when they saw me. We need to send a patrol as quickly as possible. Those murders must be hunted down for this. I won’t stand for anything less.”

  Glenn nodded. “To Corvale then. I saw some oxsteeds on our way through the village. We can make good time if we push them hard.” He looked around the village, eyes lingering on the burning inn. “Let’s speak to the villagers first. Maybe there’s somewhere they can hide until the patrol arrives.” Maggie nodded, and turned without a word.

  Glenn waited only long enough to give Ethan a long, unreadable look before turning and following the other knight. Ethan stumbled after them, his mind numb.

  ***

  “Ethan Bishop,” Tomo said. Ethan had the impression that it wasn’t the first time the demon had tried to get his attention. They were nearly back to Corvale, the Oxsteeds exhausted beneath them, though Ethan didn’t remember the trip. He felt utterly numb, and hadn’t looked away from Glenn’s back in the numerous hours they’d been riding.

  Twenty-eight.

  “Ethan Bishop, please,” Tomo implored, and finally Ethan turned to look at the little Familiar, floating next to him as the countryside flew by, bathed in the light of the setting sun.

  “You cannot trust Knight Glenn,” the demon said. “I know he is your friend, and may not seem as devout as the others, but he is of this world. You don’t yet understand what the Goddess means to most people.”

  “I can’t trust Glenn?” Ethan asked, trying to understand what was being said.

  “Whatever he may have said to the other knight, he will eventually turn on you. He must. It is his duty.”

  Ethan shook his head to clear it. Twenty-eight dead. “I know, Tomo. I know,” he squeezed his eyes shut, only for flashes of memory to force them back open. “I can’t leave yet. If I escape from their custody, it’s them who’ll be executed. I may not have been thinking clearly when I healed Glenn, but I won’t kill him after I saved him.”

  “You put yourself at grave risk,” Tomo said.

  “I know. And I have no intention of staying in the capital, wondering when Glenn might have a change of heart. As soon as we part ways, I’m getting out of here. I may not be able to climb down the legs like I wanted, but I can probably crawl under the drawbridge. Tomorrow when the city makes its first stop, I’ll jump off.”

  Tomo was silent. The demon clearly didn’t agree, but must have sensed that Ethan was beyond reasoning with. He was beyond real thought at that moment. Part of him was dying and it was a slow, painful death.

  Ethan didn’t realize he’d fallen into another stupor until the sound of hooves slamming against the city bridge snapped him out of it. They crossed at a rush, then dismounted as a group. The city garrison was right next to the entrance, and Maggie planned to head directly inside.

  “I’ll take care of things,” she said with a glance at Glenn’s bloody appearance. “Get some rest…maybe go to the baths,” she added, looking at Ethan’s even bloodier clothing. She turned and disappeared into the stone building.

  Glenn turned to Ethan then, and they shared a long, blank look. “Goodnight,” Glenn said at last. “Thank you for…the help today.” He turned without waiting for a reply, and walked quickly into the city.

  Ethan waited just long enough to be sure the man was out of sight before he moved toward the Eastern wall, the city’s main gates having closed behind them. He only managed to walk for a few minutes before he gave in to the desperate desire to run, and he took off across the city.

  People and buildings flew by as he fled, looking for just enough privacy that his escape wouldn’t be reported. At last he made it to the thin forest that bordered the outer perimeter of the city, and immediately turned back toward the South wall. It came into view in seconds, the plain gray stone as inviting as an open door.

  Ethan didn’t even slow, he simply leaped as high as he could, palms slamming into the wall as he activated his climbing skill. There was a burst of green light, and he found himself falling, just barely managing to get his feet beneath him as he hit the ground.

  He looked up in confusion at the dim green barrier that faded a moment after he fell. Ethan quickly retrieved a dagger, and after charging it with dimensional energy, he hurled it upward over the top of the wall. It too met a barrier that exploded into being upon being touched. This time Ethan spotted countless runes along the wall glowing with it.

  “No, no, no, Glenn no!” Images of the healer in the square being executed forced their way into his mind. He sent Deevee up next, the hydra questing with shared desperation for a way out. Memories of the golden sword biting into the man’s soul flashed before Ethan’s eyes. “No!”

  A wave of green lit up as the Familiar traced out the energy high above the city, only to begin curving inward as it revealed itself to be a dome. Ethan was trapped, and he fell to his knees. The will to fight, to run, to defy was still there, but it was a candle in the wind after what he’d done that day.

  He fell forward onto his hands, trying to hear Dean’s voice. He wasn’t sure what he needed to hear. Whether it was that he should keep going. Run, hide. Or if he just wanted to be told that it was okay that he’d taken so many lives today. They were bad people. The kind who hurt others. They were ones it was okay to kill.

  He laughed aloud at the childish rationalization. He was so tired. His scars burned and he smelled like blood. But he knew he had to move, magic shield be damned. He managed to force himself to one knee before he was knocked down from behind, something striking his head.

  He rolled over groggily, trying to call a rift. A weight slammed into his chest, and when his eyes managed to focus he saw an odd device pressed against him…against his Bond runes. It was like a thick, metal shield, absolutely covered in its own runes, all glowing with different colors. With a start he realized what it was doing, as the flow of his mana was cut off.

  Two knights hauled him upward a moment later, and he hung limp in their arms, feeling like all his energy had been drained away. He looked up, and saw Glenn staring back at him, surrounded by a dozen more knights, many with weapons drawn.

  “Glenn?” he said, searching the man’s eyes. The man just shook his head, before letting it drop. Ethan then realized his friend’s hands were manacled.

  Maggie stepped through the group, walking toward Ethan and taking her helmet off. She leaned forward, her dark eyes looking into his with an undisguised hatred. “I hoped I dreamed what I saw in the cave. That your filthy touch hadn’t been real. But it was true, wasn’t it?”

  She stepped back, and her owl Familiar came to land on her outstretched arm. “I saw what you did today, heretic. I saw you damn Glenn’s soul with your dark power. You did the same to me, didn’t you?” She stepped forward and slammed a gauntleted fist into his jaw. “DIDN’T YOU!?” she screamed.

  She shook her head then, stepping back. “We’ll be cleansed now, heretic. Cleansed of your filthy taint. All of us.”