If Father had been looking for the exact set of words that would have made Noah happy, he found them. Noah nearly let a grin slip across his face before he caught it mid-formation, settling for a mildly uninteresting nod in its place.

“He should prove beneficial. I have one more question before I leave, then. Do you mind?”

“You’d ask it whether I said yes or not,” Father said wryly. “Ask. I do not guarantee a response.”

“What will Wizen do if I go around killing his clones? Unless he’s obscenely powerful, he can’t have all that many of them. So when they all get squished, I’d imagine he’ll be mad. Is he going to lose it entirely?”

“You’re asking if he’ll be baited into a stupid decision or revealing himself, yes?” Father tilted his head to the side, considering the question. “It’s hard to say. Wizen is a man who often has many layers to his work. I respect him for it, but it makes him a rather difficult opponent. It would be ill advised to believe he will fold after you inconvenience him.”

“I figured that was too much to ask, but it was worth a shot,” Noah said. “That’s actually everything, then. I don’t suppose you’ve got anything else for me?”

Father’s response was to reach under the desk and pull out another slip of paper with a Rune on it, sliding it across the desk to Noah.

“Just to contact me should you find more information of any degree of interest. I am quite curious to see how you will end up doing against Wizen. Curious enough that I may be willing to lend more aid than normal, should the situation prove appropriate.”

Which is another way for you to say you’ll do more if it gets me into your debt and really screws either me or Wizen in the long term. I was wondering why Father was being so open with the information, but I think the answer is staring me right in the face.

Father is pitting two people he wants taken out against each other. Even if he isn’t working with Wizen directly, I can’t assume he isn’t feeding him any information. That’s why he stopped me from telling him what I’m going to do. Son of a bitch.

“Is something amiss?” Father asked.

“Nothing at all. There wasn’t anything else, was there?”

“There was not.”

Noah nodded and stepped through the portal. He didn’t bother bidding Father farewell, and Father returned the favor. With a fizzling hiss and a pop, Noah found himself standing back in his room.

I wonder if I should have asked to stick around in the Linwick Estate so I could try to find Jalen, but that might have been a bad idea. I don’t think Father knows about my ties to Jalen yet, so I shouldn’t overplay my hand.

As the room took form around Noah, he spotted Moxie and Lee standing behind the shrinking portal, watching it warily. Neither of them relaxed until the portal had completely faded away.

“Well?” Moxie asked. “How’d it go?”

“About as well as I expected. And, if I’m willing to risk divine retribution for getting too cocky, I might even say it went better than I had been hoping for.”

“So you have a way to deal with Wizen?” Moxie asked.

“Kind of,” Noah replied. He filled them in on the entire conversation that he and Father had gone through, not leaving anything out. When he finished, Lee and Moxie both sat quietly for a few seconds.

“So all we have to do is run around and kill all his puppets, right?” Lee asked, miming a punch. “That shouldn’t be too bad – but you didn’t actually say what the strategy you figured out was. Do you think Wizen might be listening in?”

“I don’t know. Probably not, if I’m being honest,” Noah admitted. “I doubt Wizen is so strong that he can just constantly sit around and listen in to what we’re talking about. If he is, we’re already screwed – but if he was that strong, he wouldn’t be playing games with us and Arbitage would already be under attack or destroyed.”

“And yet I note you didn’t say how you can detect the puppets,” Moxie observed. “I take it that was intentional.”

“Yeah. Who knows how extensive his Mind Runes are. I’m not going to sit here shivering in terror, but I don’t think we should go around spilling our secrets either. Wizen has a lot of cards, so the more we keep close to chest the better.”The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Lee let out a huff of disappointment but nodded her understanding. “Fine. You’ll just have to tell me who to punch. What are we going to do in the meantime? We aren’t just sittng around until Wizen’s clones show up, are we?”

“Depends on your definition of sitting around. We definitely aren’t pausing any of our lessons. The kids just got introduced to Formations – and both you and Moxie have gotten started on them as well, not to mention the advanced track. No reason to give up on that now. We’ll just keep plugging along as we have been, but with a little extra in mind.”

“Oh, awesome. That means we get to stretch next class, right?” Lee asked. “I’ve been feeling a little stiff.”

How is making the students stretch going to make you less stiff? Actually – I don’t want to know. Some things are better off just watched and enjoyed, lest Lee try to bring me in as well.

“What about Jalen?” Moxie asked, changing subjects back to their original topic. “I don’t suppose you had any luck contacting him while you were in the Linwick Estate?”

“I considered it, but decided against revealing too much to Father,” Noah said, shaking his head and letting out a huff. “It certainly would have been convenient to meet them both at once, but it was just too risky. I’m not so sure Father has our best interests in mind.”

“I don’t even know if there should be a question. Father is using us to damage Wizen and the same goes in the other direction. He’s only helping because the only one that wins from a conflict like this is the one that wasn’t in it,” Moxie pointed out. She crossed her arms, but a smirk played across her features. “At least, that would be true if we couldn’t take all the power Wizen has when we kill him.”

“That definitely does skew things in our favor, assuming we take Wizen out,” Noah agreed with a nod. “But for now, let’s focus on what we can handle. I’ve got a way to detect the puppets that I’m… fairly sure should work.”

“Fairly?” Moxie raised an eyebrow.

“About as sure as I can get without testing it on a real Wizen clone.” Noah rubbed the back of his head and gave them a weak grin. “It should work. The logic is sound. The important part is just to make sure we all keep getting stronger so that when Wizen does pull out his next card, we’ll be able to handle it.”

“In that case, do you think you could give me some pointers on Formations?” Moxie asked. “I want to brush up as much as possible before the lesson tomorrow.”

“Me too!” Lee exclaimed, flopping down cross-legged on the floor. Noah and Moxie both sat down as well.

“Right then. Where exactly are you getting stuck?” Noah asked.

“Mostly in keeping the pattern around after I start to picture it,” Moxie said. “Getting started isn’t too difficult, but the moment I start trying to hold the pattern in place, I find that it slips away.”

“Can you demonstrate?” Noah asked. “If I see what you’re doing, I should be able to hopefully point you in the right direction.”

Moxie nodded, closing her eyes to concentrate, and they got to work.

***

Rafael stood before the towering walls of the enormous Bastion, their shade blocking out the sun overhead. The Inquisitor’s hand tightened around his rosary as he drew in a deep breath, letting the myriad of scents in the air filter through his mind.

He could feel it. The demon that had killed his men – the one that bore the answers that he sought – it was close. It was so close that he could almost feel it, but the musk of the city obscured his power.

There were so many people, so many forms of magic churning and twisting, all striving to block his sight. To block him. They would not. Rafael had the scent, as muddled and faded as it was.

He’d never had a demon scent this elusive before, and he didn’t know what it meant – but if anything, that only drove him even harder. Rafael let his free hand brush against the dog head carved into the hilt of his sword.

Clear energy rang through him, pushing away the feelings of fear and confusion. It shoved back the concern of failure and magnitude of the task before him. All that remained was completing his duty. There was something of value here. Not just to him, but to the Inquisition.

Whoever this demon was had done a great job of hiding themselves, and that meant figuring out how they’d done it would then unveil countless ways to discover other demons that lurked amongst humans.

I cannot fail. The lives of countless people all rely on this singular hunt. The trail is faint, but it is there nonetheless.

Running a thumb along the beads of his rosary, Rafael stepped into Arbitage. A tingle ran down his spine as he strode down the busy streets. There were powerful beings in Arbitage. Some of them might have been allies should he seek them out, but others most certainly would not have been.

It didn’t matter one way or the other. Rafael didn’t dare risk the missions for something as paltry as fear. The demon couldn’t have advanced much since its fight against Inaros and Johan, so it was unlikely it would be able to properly challenge him.

The demon’s ally may be difficult, but demons are fickle creatures. The chances of the ally sticking around the demon this long after the initial fight is relatively low. I can’t discount it, of course. I will strike quickly and end the fight before it can properly begin.

His Runes churned within his chest, emanating pressure as they worked to track the demon. Blood magic was difficult to control and using it when there were so many competing sources of information all vying for his attention was even harder.

The blood in the vial and all the years of skill under his belt were the only things that gave him a lifeline to hang onto. And, in the vortex of competing energy that sought to confuse his powers, a thin strand held firm. It was so faint that most Inquisitors would likely have lost it by now, but Rafael was not most inquisitors.

He was the Hound, and the Hound followed until its duty was done.