JULES

  Seraphina stared at Rukia. Her gaze shifted to Jules, and lingered on Katarina and Cyrus. "Excuse me?"

  "You, know," Rukia continued. "Lust! The Deadly Sin we're hunting down—I mean looking for." Cyrus placed his hand on his curved sword's hilt. Katarina moved behind him.

  "Rukia, my devilish little fox Familiar, meant recruiting, not hunting. She's trying to help, but should stop. We're trying to find Lust and get her to safety."

  "So the Iron Maidens are after you, then." That didn't sound like a question to me.

  "You seem very relieved." A raven landed on Seraphina's shoulder. Interesting.

  "Follow me," she said. "I know the safest way out of the city."

  "No way," Katarina said. "I don't trust you. You could be leading us into a trap."

  "I just saved your lives—"

  "Before our idiot mascot here spoke," Katarina said. "Now you know who we are."

  "I just aided and abetted criminals from the Iron Maidens. I knew who you were when I helped." She peeked over Jules' shoulder at the Wanted posters. "I just wanted to confirm, is all."

  "Jules?" Cyrus didn't take her eyes off of Seraphina.

  "It's more than just the Iron Maidens who are after us," Katarina said.

  "What? Who else?" Seraphina cocked her head to the side.

  "Have you heard of the Judas Priests?"

  "Jules!" Cyrus exclaimed.

  "No… Should I have?" Seraphina rubbed her neck.

  "What do you think?" Jules asked.

  "What do I think about what?" Seraphina asked.

  I'm talking to you. What do you think about this situation? The raven turned to Seraphina, cawed softly in her ear, and flew off.

  "You mentioned a way out," Jules continued. Cyrus and Katarina continued to protest, but Jules shot them down. "Let's go. We've found who we're looking for, and we'll all in the same boat now."

  If she is Lust, then why haven't I gotten a Quest Notification yet?

  "You mean this chick?" Katarina scoffed.

  "No way." Cyrus shook his head.

  Seraphina lunged at Cyrus and thrusted her sword at his head. Before Jules or the others could scream, her blade plunged into the shadows just behind Cyrus. Half of the blade disappeared from their sight, but when she pulled her weapon back, it dripped with blood. "We're compromised," she said. "Run!"

  Cyrus invoked a Script first.

  

  ? Light ? ? Reveal ?

  Three Ninja assassins emerged appeared to fall out of the shadows cast on the alleyway walls and landed gracefully on the cobblestone. Katarina flung throwing knives at one and rushed him with daggers drawn. Cyrus launched a floating ice sword at a second one, and drew his curved sword and engaged.

  "I said run!" Seraphina shouted.

  "No time—we fight!" Jules unsheathed the Sound, still in its base wooden form, and attacked the third Ninja. Seraphina joined in with him, and they bumped into each other a few too many times. "I can take him on my own—kinda hard to fight together when I don't know you, yet!"

  "Can you take a 3rd Rank by yourself!?" She shot smoke in the assassin's eyes that stuck to his face wherever he went.

  "How do you know what Rank they are?"

  "Their crests. Your friend—the bloke with no last name or whatever—has also got a 3rd Rank."

  "We can take them," Jules said.

  "Hey, I heard that—And I have a last name!" A horizontal column rushed out of a wall and punched Cyrus in the body.

  "Please don't let that be your first impression of us," Jules added.

  "Rank doesn't matter much with these guys if you don't know how to fight them. Take my lead. And girl—watch out for the fourth one!" Kat already took out her first? No, crap, she's got two on her.

  "Press into him, Kat!" Cyrus shouted. "Don't give him distance."

  "No," Seraphina said. "Stay clear of them! Maintain distance at all costs." Jules obeyed and backed off their shared opponent; Katarina and Cyrus, on the other, hand, pressed in.

  "If I were a gambling man—"

  "You are a degenerate gambler, you moron!" Katarina yelled at Cyrus.

  "—I'd wager we've been in a few more fights than you. No disrespect."

  "Plenty taken. These are my people. I'd listen—Jules, help the damsel in distress." She stepped forward between him and the 3rd Rank assassin.

  "What'd you just call—"

  Jules tackled Katarina to avoid a blade to her back. Jules rolled over and pushed her back on her feet. Keep the distance.

  

  ? Fire ?

  Jules disposed of one target, and Katarina took down the other. That took too much effort from Kat. She's definitely slower. He turned to Seraphina just in time to watch her knock out her assassin. "Cy, we're waiting."

  "Cram it up your cram hole!" All of Cyrus' ice swords missed their target, passing right through the man, and none of his blade's slashes connected. He dodged a short knife that only cut his cheek.

  "You look like you're struggling. Better listen to her—"

  "We need to all attack him," Seraphina ordered. "It's the only way, before backup arrives." A loud horn blared through the city and shook the surrounding buildings. Her face dropped. "Like that."

  "Ten seconds, Cy—Oh, you're done."

  The man collapsed to the ground and Cyrus flung his blood off his sword. "Let's bail!"

  Corpses rained down from the sky and splattered all around them. Some lost their appendages, while others stuck out at horrific angles. From every direction, the Iron Maiden Hunters they'd spotted earlier filed into the alleyway.

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  "What the hell? You—go away!" Seraphina leapt back, and the flock of ravens circling overhead darted away. Behind her, one of the corpses rose. Ah, shit.

  "I see the strings, Jules," Katarina said. "The Iron Maiden is back. Break the Sight Runes so she can't learn about us."

  Jules whipped Seraphina around to him. "These guys aren't alive, but they aren't fully dead, either—I mean, those guys are very alive, but you get the idea."

  "How do you know this!?"

  "The Battle for Marina Veridia wasn't all slander. It just wasn't us that rose the dead." All around, Holy and Dark weapons summoned from the void, and the dead shrieked like primal banshees. Dead and living rushed them. Cyrus drew his Vessel, Tensa, and Jules lit the Sound on fire.

  

  ? Ignite ?

  "I'll take the puppets with Kat," Cyrus said.

  "Sera and I will take the Hunters."

  "How cute," Katarina said.

  "Watch yourself, Kat. You can't take much more Holy damage, and your weak as is. Let Cy take the lead." She scoffed, and he hoped she'd listen. "Sera—"

  "I told you the nickname fit you." Whatever.

  "You might think you can take a hit from these guys, but trust me, you can't. Evade at all costs."

  "Hey Jules… I'd like to, ya know, kill someone." There's too many of them. You read my mind.

  

  ? Integrate ?

  "Hunt, Rukia." The fox disintegrated and flowed into the Sound, which lit in white flames. She propelled them forward and annihilated a half-dozen in a single strike, and immediately attacked the next batch.

  Jules let Rukia take control for a brief moment to study Seraphina's fighting technique. She'd disappear and reappear somewhere else with incredible speed, attacking Hunters from behind, then would stop to fight in close quarters. Someone snuck up from behind her and—

  "AAAHHHHH!!" Kat!! He'd never heard a shriek like that, not from the Siren of Siren's Cove, not even from the dead puppets. Yellow and orange veins bulged from Katarina's forearm. She'd taken a blow meant for Seraphina, and the two girls locked eyes as Katarina shrieked in pain.

  Filled with rage, Jules removed the Hunter's arm, and then the top half of his head.

  "Why did you…?" Seraphina stared at Katarina in horror, who responded between sobs.

  "Jules said to watch out, you idiot!"

  "More are coming," Whiskers said from up high on a precipice. He pounced up and swiped at a lingering raven.

  More zombies crashed to the ground, some by Cyrus' Vessel. And others from wherever the fuck they're coming from. Katarina inch-wormed over to Cyrus.

  "Cy, please Salvos, make it stop!"

  "Snap out of it, Shinsorai," Jules yelled at Seraphina. Katarina raised her arm up to Cyrus, and he swung his sword back to strike her.

  "No!" Seraphina collapsed to her knees as Cy pierced Katarina's arm with his Vessel.

  "Don't worry, he healed her. For now." Jules disposed of two more Hunters, but she didn't move. Cyrus sliced more threads above the puppets and stabbed others in the forehead by their third eye, inscribed by The Iron Maiden herself. "Don't freak out, Sera, that's a Vessel. We can't let any of these guys survive and tell the tale, OK?"

  "Doesn't matter Jules." Cyrus grunted as he worked through the horde. "That bitch can see it all through the Sight Runes. We're already compromised." Dammit.

  "Clean up anyway, Cy. Sera—Where's that escape route?" Utterly frozen, she gave no reply.

  "Jules…" Katarina groaned. "More…on side…"

  Watch this, Julesie—Point me at 'em! Jules obeyed the fox, and a flaming tornado launched from the Sound's tip and engulfed them all in a blazing inferno.

  Holy shit Rukia where has that been this whole time!? Hunters screamed and cried and ran about, directionless, as the flames smoldered them down.

  Tee hee—There's more to come!

  Katarina snapped in Seraphina's face. "Wake up, chick. Escape route. Where?"

  Jules looked around. No one was left standing but them. He dis-Integrated Rukia from the Sound, and she reluctantly and slowly waddled to the backpack. "No point in staying hidden, Little One."

  "Ah, yeah!" She skipped back over to Seraphina and licked her face. "Come on, girlie!"

  "R-right. Follow me." She slowly rose and hurried down an alleyway and lifted a sewer drain.

  "No way."

  "Absolutely not."

  "Fuck that."

  "No no no no no no no!"

  "I'm bleeding and cursed and now you want me to get sepsis?"

  "Do you want to live or not!?" Seraphina shouted. They all jumped in, and she closed the drain above them.

  "This is the grossest thing I've ever done." Jules tried to avoid getting even a single toe in the water.

  "Meh. I've had worse experiences at the orphanage." Cyrus lifted his chin up in some sort of twisted pride.

  "I hate this place. I hate this city. I hate this entire nation." Katarina hugged herself, as if it would protect her from the filth.

  "I will never. Lick. Myself. Again." Whiskers shuddered.

  "Man, I feel like I'm headed to a rave," Rukia said. "Hey Kaizen, did we ever go to a rave together?"

  "Which one of you is Kaizen?" Seraphina asked.

  

  ? Summon ?

  Kaizen appeared, and stretched and yawned again.

  "You were sleeping again!?"

  "Hey, why'd you bring me to this dump? Think I'd like to go back in the beads."

  "Is that a, you know, ghost?"

  "Since my endearing and ever-surprising fox won't say—Do I have the right person?" Kaizen hesitated when he looked at Seraphina. "OK. That's all I needed to know." Jules extended his hand to her. "My name is Jules Tideshaper, though I'm known to most as Wrath."

  She didn't take his hand, but studied their faces again.

  "I'm Cyrus. Of no Surname, apparently…"

  "I'm Kat." No mention of being a Sin, huh? Best to play it safe, I guess.

  "I am Seraphina Raventree."

  "Seraphina Raventree and…?" Jules asked with a shit-eating grin.

  "…I am also known, to a few, as Lust." She shook his hand, and pink embers sparked on contact. Jules side-eyed Katarina. She looks in true form, like she Integrated with Envy. Heh heh.

  "K, now that that's over with—What's the plan, Lust?" Not gonna call her by her name, are you, Kat?

  "Cyrus of no Surname. And the unknown woman. I heard you were…" Decapitated? Yeah, don't mention that. Seriously don't. "Taller. So which are you?"

  "The leading Sidekick."

  "Your Familiar tried to eat mine, Raven. So which are you?" Katarina didn't answer. "I'll take you all to Eldertree Enclave. I want to avoid those Iron Maidens as much as you do. I have someone there who I can trust."

  "Katarina Waverunner." Her face fell flat, and she continued down the sewer tunnel. "Envy."

  "Envy… Hey, Kat. We're going this way." Seraphina led them in the opposite direction.

  A half hour later, they were above ground again, crammed inside a secret passageway. Their entire journey, they heard the mounting commotion outside, and inside, they heard the excited rumors spreading throughout the building. Which building are we in again?

  "We're almost there," Seraphina said.

  "We're still inside the city, what do you mean?" Cyrus asked.

  "My family has a—uh—Space Rune. We're going to the Teleportal."

  Cyrus whistled low and long. "So you really are an outlaw."

  "Can we trust your family?" Katarina asked.

  "Yes. They know about me. Kept it hidden for nearly two decades, thank you very much." She stopped them suddenly and put a finger to her mouth. "Shh!"

  "Raventree!" The voices came from the other side of the passageway walls.

  "You'd do well to call him Lord Raventree, Daiki," an older woman said. I recognize that name.

  "Forgive me, sire. We have not found your daughter, yet."

  "She wasn't on the palanquin?" another man asked. Jules, Cyrus, Katarina, Whiskers, and Rukia all eyed Seraphina. She just grinned and shrugged, saved by the silence demanded of them.

  "No. It was a doppelganger, Sir."

  "Don't look at me," a younger man or boy said. "I didn't know anything, I swear!"

  "I heard you and your sister were snooping around here last night. Borrowing armor is what I heard."

  "What? The night before The Shadow's Path ceremony?" probably-Seraphina's-father said. "What were you—Sera…"

  "Oh, don't look at me, Son," probably-Seraphina's-grandmother-said. "I knew all along. I just didn't tell you." Oh, you take after your grandmother, don't you?

  "We can't let the Iron Maidens find her. Send everyone looking for her. Now!"

  "Under what premise, Sir?"

  "She broke the law today. We shame the family to protect it." Woof. Guess I can relate there.

  "Hmph. If only she'd taken my armor last night, she wouldn't have made such a scene. Foolish child."

  "Enough, Mother. We find her within the hour."

  It sounded like they'd all left, but Seraphina never lowered her finger from her lips. A shrill voice called out.

  "You ssssummoned…?"

  "Yes. The Shinsorai search for the Raventree girl. You'd do well to find her first."

  "We underssstand…" A man's footsteps grew further and further away.

  "That motherfucker!" Seraphina's eyes glowed a bright pink.

  "That voice." Katarina shook. "It hurt my arm, deep to the bones."

  The Iron Maiden, Cyrus thought to only Jules.

  "Seems like too many people know about you, now," Jules said. "Where's that Teleportal?" Seraphina stared at the wall, like she'd break through and murder the traitor at any moment. "Now's not the time. But I promise we will, if we can. We're…all too familiar with that feeling of betrayal."

  Seraphina spun on her heels and continued weaving through the passageway. "Just up here. I have a quick stop, first."

  "No time," Katarina complained.

  "Don't play any more games with us," Cyrus said.

  She opened up a false wall and rushed down a corridor. Jules looked both ways then followed after her into a wonderful armory. Jules noted one set was missing, but Seraphina replaced it from her Inventory and removed another set from its stand.

  "Let me guess—you're borrowing Granny's Ninja outfit?"

  "I needed this armor," Seraphina said. "Odessa knew I was there, behind that wall. She should already be waiting for us in the next room."

  "Unexpected visitors in my private chambers?" A familiar cold wave swept through the room and froze Jules. A Shinsorai man entered the armory; his helmet was still on, but Jules knew who he was immediately.

  "You mean my family's armory?"

  "I own the Shinsorai, and everything in it." The Shinsorai's armor clinked as he stomped a foot down and halted before them all.

  Jules activated his beads, ready to summon Kaizen at any moment. The man studied Jules, the beads around Rukia's neck, and then the others. His gaze lingered on Katarina, practically hopped over Cyrus, and finally rested on Seraphina.

  "You did well today, taking the First Step into the Shadow. Now to what do I owe this second unexpected pleasure of yours for today…Lust?"

  "I could ask you the same thing, Musashi."