Chapter 158: Spare Heart

Author’s note: I modified the previous chapter. I agree that the fae’s ability to unilaterally assign Debt was a little too one-sided. I reworded it to focus on the hounds and the symmetry between the two groups. Minor change amounting to scratching out a sentence, tweaking one and and adding another elsewhere, but hopefully should meet ‘fae’ expectations better.

Travis Oilton

Master Decoy Level 36

42+22 Strength

108+25 Resistance

108+15 Kinesthetics

66+10 Acuity

60+25 Focus

Charges: 83/85

Free Points: 0

Primary Abilities: Center of Attention*, Taunt**,

Secondary Abilities: Mirage**

2 Primary Upgrades Available!

Non-stat Item Abilities: +55% Charm Archetype potency, Leeching Scoundrel, Luring Noise, Stinky Escape, Outflanking, Concentration.

Freakin’ skunk pants, Travis thought, growing gradually more irritated as he was forced to wait for things to kick off. Any time he wanted to, Travis could pull up Will’s stats in the Party list, and see how woefully inadequate he was in comparison.

How the fuck does he have stats above two hundred?

BOOM! The earth shook.

Probably don’t have long to wait now. Thirty…fifteen seconds? In anticipation of the fight, his heart started beating painfully hard, his breath shuddering.

Travis took a deep breath and tried to calm himself as explosions above caused a fine layer of dust to drift down above him.

Loth had decided the best way to go about handling multiple Fae who were individually raid-boss strong would be to split them up and wear them down.

People like Will, Loth, and Mason would kill their target quick while people like him were only expected to hold on long enough for the ‘winners’ to come by and pull their asses out of the fire.

Well, screw that. Travis was looking forward to when he got his Class advancement. When Master Decoy gave way to something that more accurately reflected what he could do.

Travis manifested a cantrip, creating illusionary rat in his hand, poking the creature to feel its fur. Soft, warm, and wiggling, just like a real rat.

The rat got irritated with him and bit his thumb.

Ouch.

I wouldn’t say no to Master of Reality, he thought, dismissing the scurrying rat back to strands of ether.

If Will thought his Build was suited for the Wraith Vessel, he could think again. That pale corpse-flower had allowed Travis to turn his Mirage Ability selectively real, and it was just as absolutely broken as it sounded.

There was even amazing synergy with the Ring of the Leeching Scoundrel, which gave him minor healing and stamina whenever an enemy was affected by one of his Charm Abilities. Typically he used it to stay ahead of people he was Taunting, but in this case…

With some testing, he had confirmed that it worked when one of his illusions dealt physical damage to an enemy. It had basically given his manifested illusions lifesteal.

He could make anything he could remember or imagine, living or dead, whereas Will could only make rocks and daggers and stuff.

If there was one downside compared to Will’s version, it was that Travis’s illusions weren’t stronger than the item or creature they were based on.

Wish I could fix that, but I’ll have to wait until level fifty.

BOOM!

A humanoid body tumbled through a trapdoor in the wall shortly before the opening sealed itself up.

…assuming I live.

Travis leapt forward, swinging the Dueling Blade down towards the fae’s neck.

No sense letting this fight go any longer than it has to.

The Fae flickered out of place an instant before Travis’s sword chopped into its neck, and in the next instant, the dueling blade’s echo interposed itself between Travis’s neck and a snarling maw.

Thank the gods I keep it in ‘defense’ mode, Travis thought as he made a wild swing towards the creature’s midsection, forcing it to take a step back or be disemboweled.

“Ahem.” The fae cleared his throat, the wolflike muzzle rapidly retreating back into his face. His lip was split where he’d bit into the sword.

The humanoid was wearing what appeared to be a mockery of courtly attire, with shiny pants tighter than any human could tolerate and ruffles that had to be getting in the way of his ability to eat.

He had slightly pointed ears and the creatures cheekbones gave Travis an animalistic feeling.

“Apologies, where are my manners?” The fae said in an affectation of geniality that underscored the savagery he’d displayed a moment earlier.

“My name is Alexander Februus. A kingly name, don’t you think? And yours?”

“Travis.” Travis said. He’d been coached on certain things, like not leaving the fae hanging. Certain forms of rudeness could be taken advantage of. The Floor expected a certain give-and-take.

Strangely enough trying to kill each other wasn’t considered rude enough to penalize you, but not giving your name might be.

“Travis. Surely you understand that it is rude to attack a man while he’s down.”

“You’re not a man.” Travis said. “Not by any measure that matters.”

“Hmmph.” The Fae seemingly turned its attention away from Travis and began scanning its surroundings. The creature’s gaze lingered on the far wall which separated it from the rest of its people.

“What a bold strategy, taking pathetic Climbers we can kill effortlessly, and dividing them up in even chucks so we don’t have to worry about sharing.” The inhuman creature put a thumb to its chin, expression thoughtful. “No wait, not bold, what was the word…? Stupid, that’s it! Your leader’s grand plan is to lock you in a box WITH ME!?”

As the fae spoke it seemed to grow feral, it’s body hunching over as its muzzle elongated again.

“…I can really take my time with you, can’t I?”

Travis took a deep breath and flooded the room with illusions of himself, quickly ducking aside to hopefully confuse his opponent.

Mirage

83->68 Charge remaining.

Center of Attention

68->67 Charge remaining.

Travis used his primary’s inverted ability to fade from the fae’s mind, making it easier to disappear into the crowd of Travises.

Once he broke line of sight by using one of his illusions, the Boots of outflanking triggered, and Travis dashed out of the way an instant before the fae clawed its way through the crowd, searching for him.

 I just need to plaster the illusion of a bit of wall over myself, and I can-

“HURK!” Travis let out an undignified croak as spearlike claws penetrated his lungs.

“Really?” The fae asked with a frown, glancing down at Travis then up at the other Travises, who were clutching their chests. “That was it?”

The fae’s other claws had been stopped short of piercing Travis’s head by his Dueling Blade.

Travis coughed up blood as the six-inch claws were drawn back out of his chest, an action more painful than anything he’d ever experienced. His entire body began to twitch involuntarily like a clubbed fish as the bones in his chest popped and cracked aside, his still-beating heart drawn from his chest.

Oh shit. I’m gonna die.

“Whoops, sorry…I thought you’d block that.” The fae said, it’s voice seeming to come from a long tunnel.

“Damnation. Do I just have to wait here? Is there an exit or…” The fae turned its back on him and began inspecting the nearby wall, bloody claws on its hips.

The last thoughts Travis had weren’t words, so much as strong feelings that rioted across his brain like a thunderstorm. Mostly he felt regret. Regret at having a weak build. Regret for taking it out on others. Regret for being a bit of a tool, honestly. But mostly he regretted having a massive hole in his chest.

Not even a greater healing potion could fix a missing heart and shredded lungs, and the minor healing form his ring definitely couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t just…

Wait a second.

With the last of his fading consciousness, Travis gave a silent prayer to…anything that would listen. As long as it’s not Will. I’d rather die.

Mirage

67->66 Charges remaining.

Travis took a shuddering breath which devolved into a wracking, bloody cough as an illusionary heart and lungs stitched themselves back in where the real stuff had been shredded.

The fae turned and frowned at Travis, his twitching heart held limply in the creature’s hand.

Not quite enough! I need healing, but it’s too strong to affect with my Illusions.

“You-“ He gasped through the blood, pointing. “Stole. From me.”

The fae glanced down at the bloody heart in its hand.

“Fuck.”

Something shifted in the world, as though invisible scales had been balanced.

Travis didn’t know exactly what was happening. He couldn’t feel it or see the underlying cause, but suddenly the Fae was like a bumbling moron, less than half as fast and strong as it had been a moment ago.

 The monstrous, wolflike snout and terrifying snarl now had all the oppressive force of a noblewoman’s purse-dog.

Travis’s illusions piled on the fae, stabbing with their blades, and Travis felt a rush of healing flood his body as the illusion’s damage piled up, fixing leaks and healing the seams where the illusionary heart beat in his chest.

Suddenly the healing cut off, and Travis tensed, ready to fight for his life.

You are now a level 37 Master Decoy!

But it was dead. The slender, ostentatiously dressed fae was sprawled on the floor, mangled by over a dozen blades repeatedly raining down on him. Travis’s heart lay next to it.

What’s the Procedure with a limb…? Travis thought, his mind sluggish…Ice. Get it back to the Healers.

Mirage

66->65 Charges remaining.

Travis manifested a cooler full of ice and had one of his illusions pick his heart up and gently place it in the ice.

He couldn’t walk on his own, so he had two illusions get under his arms and walk him back to the main cave, where the rest of the caravan was waiting.

The secret door opened at his touch, and Travis lost the ability to move his legs partway down the tunnel, his legs dragging a thin trail of blood across the stone.

“Hey! Travis, you finished third!” Will congratulated Travis as he arrived. “Right after Alicia and Mason. Not bad at all.”

“Where’s the saint?” Travis rasped.

“Why?” Will asked, frowning.

“I need’er put dis back in m’ chest ‘fore I passout.” Travis mumbled, eyelids sinking as his illusion opened the cooler to show Will the heart.

“That wasn’t an illusion!?” Will asked, eyes wide, prompting a surge of indignant anger.

You saw it happen and just assumed-

“NO IT WASN’T AN ILLUS-!” Travis’s shout was interrupted by coughing up an inordinate amount of blood.

“Healer now, please.” Travis whispered through the pain.

“CHARNESA!” Will shouted. “Got one for you!”

**William Oh**

Will pondered as Charnesa and the other healers escorted Travis and his cooler away with rapidly growing alarm.

Will had been sure that hadn’t been the real Travis. Travis’s Ability must’ve blanked out Will’s awareness long enough for him to switch with an illusion, confusing his Phantom Eye, but the fae still had some way of tracking Travis even after he concealed his location.

It must’ve made some kind of Debt connection to Travis that allowed it to track him and physically overpower him, which was broken as soon as it took Travis’s heart, either negating or flipping the balance of the debt.

Typically that wouldn’t have been a problem, since Travis would’ve died on the spot, and the scales never would’ve fallen the other direction…except Travis survived through some creative illusions, and the fae was suddenly on the other side of that Debt and unable to bring any extra power to bear against Travis.

This is good information. Will thought, glancing over at where Alicia was watching Jason’s fight through the stone floor. Better than he’d gotten from the other two.

Alicia had simply caused her opponent’s blood vessel’s to explode in his brain, and the fae had passed out before a single fancy word had escaped his lips. She was now on task making sure that when Jason was eventually tricked by his opponent, it didn’t turn out too bad.

A teachable moment rather than a doomed one.

Mason on the other hand was resting on a bench near a wagon, bandaging his cracked pearlescent skin. The nuker had unloaded three quarters of his Charge pummeling his opponent into a soup, banking it all on his passive defenses by silently standing in one place and taking multiple wounds that would’ve been fatal if it hadn’t been for his protected internal organs.

It looks like Travis joined the ‘funky internal organs’ club, however temporarily. Will thought.

BOOM!

Will’s attention was drawn back up as a fine rain of dust drifted down.

The battle above between Loth and the leader of the Hunt continued.