Ace of Capes [Superhero LitRPG] [Isekai] [Card Crafting]

The knock on Aiden's door wasn't wholly unexpected. He'd been expecting Vacek to visit for some time now. The paranoid man wouldn't be satisfied with his spies reporting that Aiden had been doing nothing but keeping to himself and staying out of trouble.

Aiden had even started going back to the clinic to work and was teaching one class again. His schedule wasn't as hectic as it was before, as he was understandably easing back into things. Emma was happy about it. She thought it meant he was healing. Not plotting.

But Vacek would likely still be suspicious, and Aiden had been expecting him to visit whenever he got free from the Fae delegation that was currently on Earth.

But the shocking thing was that it wasn't Vacek at the door. The magical register he sensed was...hotter.

Aiden pulled open the door after the first knock. "Stella."

"Hey," Stella looked almost as rough as he did. Her hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head, her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked to have aged several years in just a few months. Also, her costume was dirty.

"You should probably invest in a self-cleaning material," Aiden said by way of greeting. "Or at least buy one of the portable blow cleaners that can get some of the dirt off you."

"You know, Mane suggested the same thing," she said, but the smile she cracked was a weak one. Aiden took a step back, allowing her in and closing the door behind her. He went to the kitchen and heard her following him.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked Stella. "Tea? Juice?"

"Muan tea would be great. I remember that was your specialty."

Aiden froze. Sudden overwhelming emotion flooded his body, but he swallowed it down with difficulty. "Yes. Um..we're actually out of leaves, so I can't make that right now."

Also, he couldn't bear to make it without breaking down completely.

He'd been holding it together pretty well for the past few months. At first, he'd been fuelled by pure anger and a rush to make Tate's golem, so he didn't have much time to take stock of his own emotions.

But even now that he did have some downtime, he hadn't cried. He hadn't despaired.

Letting himself do either would be equivalent to admitting that Lexie was truly gone, and he wasn't about to do that. Not on his life.

He had to keep believing that she was there, waiting for him. He would be reuniting with her soon, whether in this life or the next.

"Just juice is fine then," Stella said, clearly oblivious to Aiden's sudden shift in mood. Aiden opened the fridge to retrieve the juice. As he poured, he asked, "How have you been?"

"Terrible," she said, leaning against the wall. "I can't sleep. Every time I try I..." She shook her head. "My therapist says it's PTSD-induced insomnia. She prescribed me some potions, but I can't take them. They make me loopy in the morning, and I can't fight crime if I'm loopy."

"You can't fight crime if you're mentally and physically exhausted either." He brought the glass of juice and handed it over to her. "You should take a break."

"Ha." Her laugh was short as she took a sip. "Like that's going to happen. It's not even a plausible option right now, not with the Fae in town."

"I thought having the Fae around was supposed to make things easier."

"Yes, but Vacek doesn't want them meddling too much in our business. And I have to say I agree. They already have too much say in what we do."

"What about the ambassador?" Aiden asked. "Did he come with the delegation? Have you heard from him lately?" Aiden had wanted to reach out to him a long time ago, to figure out what was going on with Naem, but he didn't know how to ask Stella without raising suspicion and alerting Vacek. But now, it seemed that she'd found a way for him to naturally pitch that into conversation.

"Who? Tyn-Ra-Hae?" She shook her head. "Last I heard, he'd gone back to one of his wives, and they were taking a tour to different planets. Not Earth, though."

"I see." Did that have something to do with Naem, or was that a tour Tynrae was taking on his own? If it was the latter, then where was Naem? Why wasn't he responding to Aiden's calls?

Aiden didn't want to think there was foul play involved, but he was starting to get very suspicious about this disappearing act.

"Aiden?" Stella's call drew him back to the present. "Did you hear what I said?"

"No. Sorry, my mind was far away."

"I was asking how you're holding up."

Aiden shrugged. That was really the only answer to give. He didn't know how he was holding up. He was taking it a day at a time, occasionally a second at a time.

Sometimes, he felt a pressure in his chest so tight that it was like he couldn't breathe. And when he thought about Lexie, and what she must be going through...well, he tried not to think about that. It felt like his brain was splitting apart, and the urgency would nearly drown him.

He would then breathe slowly and surely, and remind himself that he was useless to his daughter dead. He was the only one who could save her right now, and if he messed up, that was it for her.

So he could not mess up.

"You know she was the only reason they found Theo alive," Stella said. "I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

"That wasn't my doing," Aiden responded sharply. "I'm glad that you have your son back, but I'd rather Lexie hadn't done what she did in the first place."

"I understand," she said. "I'm grateful regardless."

Aiden nodded. He tried not to feel wrathful or jealous that Stella's son was alive while his Lexie was stuck in a nightmare.

He tried but didn't often succeed.

"How is Theo?" he asked to make up for his rudeness.

"He's doing better," she said. "He's itching to go back into the field, and he wants to do more dungeon work. He thinks…he thinks he can find her if he tries hard enough, and the guilt is eating him up. Of course, I don't want him to risk it, but he's determined and keeps bugging Vacek to figure out how exactly they extracted him so he can do the same for Lexie."

Aiden remained silent. He didn't know if Vacek had told Stella about the secret levels yet. As far as he knew, the answer to that was no.

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Aiden asked because he didn't know if Stella was just ranting or angling for a solution.

She shook her head. "I don't know if that will work. I already tried talking to him, and he's not listening to me. He might not agree to talk to you either, because he's too ashamed to face you right now. Torin, as well." She sighed. "I'm losing them. I can sense it ever since the disappearance; they're both...different. The younger ones can feel the constant tension, and they're acting out. Just the other day, Tamsin asked about her, and we all nearly broke down." She held the glass with both hands as she took another sip. "My husband is a rock, but even he has his limits. And I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm failing at everything."

Sympathy crawled through Aiden's chest. He may not always have gotten along with Stella and her family, but he'd grown somewhat fond of her as he'd come to know her. He knew she was the type to bite off more than she could chew and take on the world's burdens as her own.

"It's bullshit." It slipped out of him unbidden.

"What?" she asked.

"It's bullshit. That voice in your head that tells you that everything that goes wrong is your fault. That you can't take a break. That you're supposed to be superhuman and strong and perfect all the time, and if you aren't, bad things will happen, and it will be your fault." Aiden took a deep breath. "Take it from me. It's all bullshit."

Stella looked surprised. Then she grinned. "My therapist said the same thing, although not as succinctly and emphatically. I didn't know you swore, Aiden."

"I guess I just have more personal experience with the topic. Take a break. It sounds dark to say it, but people will always die whether you're there or not. Your family is important too, and you shouldn't stand by while they implode. So take a break and see to your needs and theirs for a change." That was one thing Aiden wished he'd done. Spent less time on his work and more time on those that mattered.

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Stella's eyeballs glittered suspiciously, and she sniffed. "The Muan tea, it was Lexie's favorite, wasn't it? That's why you don't have it anymore."

Aiden's throat got tight. He swallowed again. He felt the rush of misery. He didn't want to talk about this.

"Sorry," Stella said. "I just…I felt like I had to say her name. I've been avoiding saying it at home because I don't want to set anyone off, but I wanted to say it–" She got cut off, and bit her lip.

"Jerry's calling. Hang on. It's probably another crisis."

Aiden's system screen started ringing at almost the same time.

It was Vacek.

"Aiden," he said. "Are you sitting down?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because we just got visual confirmation from an unexpected source."

"Confirmation of what?" Aiden asked.

"Max Deveraux is alive."

***

"Cecilia!" Max screamed for what felt like the thousandth time. His throat was raw. "Damn it, Cecilia, let me back in!"

When nothing happened, he snarled and resisted the urge to punch the wall again.

His fingers almost broke doing it the first time, but still.

Max was fuming.

Not only had he been tricked so easily, but he was standing here looking like an idiot, yelling his head off.

He didn't know what the fuck else to do.

He'd tried slamming on the walls, hoping that it would activate the portal. Then he'd tried shooting at it, because clearly more firepower would do the trick.

Then he'd searched for a kind of lever or anything that would activate the portal.

He knew it was hopeless even as he went through the motions.

The portal was pure magic, and there was nothing he could do about it. Actually, no, it was not magic.

It was alchemy, which was even worse. He definitely would not be able to activate one on his own.

So then he'd resorted to screaming at the walls.

And that was how they'd found him.

'They' being a group of noisy, heavy-footed bastards with PHORBs.

When Max heard them coming, he spun around with his gun in hand and pointed it straight at them.

The man leading the procession squeaked and put his hands up, but that didn't help Max's disposition.

He was instantly calculating whether or not to shoot them, and how many he could take out in one go.

Logically, he knew that response was overkill–ha–, but his fight or flight instinct had been sharpened with time. He knew when strangers arrived, it was often a matter of seconds between life and death.

Kill or be killed.

That was the mantra he'd lived by for so long. It was hard to come out of that mindset.

"Oh my God." The man with his hands up exclaimed. "I know you. You're…you're Mad Eye Max."

"And who the devil are you?"

"I'm the Dungeonslayer. I'm a huge fan."

The scrawny youth didn't look like anyone worthy of being called a dungeonslayer, nor did anyone in his party. They were now whispering amongst themselves in hushed tones that were grating on Max's senses.

So much noise.

His former forest home didn't have as much noise. When he wasn't hunting, almost nothing made a sound, not even insects. He'd gotten used to the silence before Cecilia and Lexie had come along and introduced life.

But this place had too much life.

This was Earth. This…this was home.

Max never thought he'd be back here. He'd never even let himself consider it.

Now that he was here...

Happiness wasn't the word for what he felt.

It was more so, an overwhelming sea of rage, regret, failure, relief, guilt, and a whole lot of other things he couldn't identify.

He'd left Lexie in that hellhole.

She'd forced him to leave her in that hellhole.

So she could continue her quest for self-destruction.

Max took note of his surroundings. He couldn't stay here.

He had to find Aiden. He had to tell him about Lexie, so they could go back into the dungeon and find her together. Aiden was a genius. He'd know how to get back in.

As he walked past the group, they shrank away from him. Maybe because they were scared of the gun still pointed at them, but also because he probably smelled.

He usually only indulged in a lake swim once in a fortnight, when he couldn't stand his own stench. It was too risky to do it more often than that.

He'd been working on a deodorizer when he found Lexie again, but he left his tools behind. Hell, he'd even left his new motorcycle behind. He'd gotten attached to that thing.

Damn it, Lex, you should have at least warned me before you pulled this crap.

But if she'd warned him, he never would have let her do it.

At least, he had his backpack of weapons. And his eyepatch.

As he walked, moving through the tunnel, he finally saw the light swirling from the entrance.

He walked out into a forest.

It wasn't anything like his forest. Too much air, too much sound, too much life.

He was on Earth.

Max didn't know exactly where he was. He didn't know where to go.

"System screen," he remembered. "I should check my system screen."

Before he could, three beings apparated into existence.

Max instantly swung up his gun, ready to shoot.

Except...

One of them was Aiden. He looked different, a lot older. But it was certainly him.

Stella Firebringer was there, too, for some reason.

And then next to them was the man who looked the oldest out of them.

His brother. Luke.

Max felt that rippling sensation that warned him that his emotions were about to burst out of containment. It wasn't just the ones under the surface. It was the ones he'd buried in the trenches, the abyss. The whole damn ocean became a storm, pushing forth everything from the deepest depths of his heart.

Damn it.

It was all flowing back up, all shooting out of him. All the things he'd tried not to think, the hope he'd tried not to have.

Everything he buried surged so powerfully that he couldn't control it. It was coursing out of his eyes.

Fuck. Fuck.

He was crying.

He was standing here in front of three adults and crying like a baby.

As he wiped his face, his stoic older brother stalked to him and pulled him into his arms.

Luke wept too.

***

After handing out a few instructions to the therianthropes, Lexie used Pvilycht's essence to teleport herself and Cecilia to Ryn.

When they appeared, a few hulking beasts were surrounding Ryn and co.

Ryn had tied up two of them with air bonds, while Pvilycht was attempting to dismantle the other two.

Lexie pointed and got rid of them in a flash.

She waited as the group stared around wildly, and Ryn finally acknowledged her presence.

She let out a sigh of relief. "How fortuitous. You're back."

"I am."

Pvilycht bowed, and Lexie nodded, although she didn't think the bow was necessary.

Then the reaction that surprised her the most was the one from Little Fae.

She had been attached to Ryn during the fight, but ripped herself away and dashed toward Lexie.

She hesitated, then threw her arms around Lexie's waist, pulling close.

Lexie froze. "Ryn?"

"Yes?"

"Why is it hugging me?"

Ryn released a sound that was a Fae-like chortle.

"You have spent a lot of time with her in her formative years," Ryn responded. "I believe she sees you as her caretaker now?"

"She thinks I'm her parent?"

"Well, no, not a parent. A caretaker. You see, Fae parenting isn't the same as on Earth. When Fae are born, they often don't survive until first maturation, so it is very rare for a parent to care about one when they are this young–"

"Alright, alright enough," Lexie said and detached herself from the little Fae creature, who was stronger than she looked. "I'm happy to see you, too, but I could do without the touching."

The Little Fae stood to the side, and she reached out and healed a cut on Lexie's leg that she had not noticed.

"Good," Lexie said. "Now, three of you. Gather around. I have a plan for us to defeat this level."

"What is it?" Ryn asked, moving closer.

"Cecilia and I have perfected our teleportation technique," Lexie told her. "We can likely get you home, Ryn. You and Little Fae. And Pvilycht. And Cecilia herself. Then I will approach the mountain myself and get the knowledge of how to go to the Other."

"I don't understand." Ryn cocked her head. "Even if you manage to send us away, how will you get to the mountain? There are a lot of other creatures here."

"I cannot go to the Mountain," Lexie said. "So, I'll have to force the mountain to bring itself to us.

"By killing everyone?" Pvilycht asked, almost hopefully.

"No," she said. That was too time-consuming. "Pvilycht, correct me if I'm wrong, but two separate beings are driving this dungeon as of now, right? There's the natural drive of the dungeon itself and Yasycht's influence after he hijacked it. The dungeon, of course, has rules that it plays by, and a storyline which has been corrupted by Yasycht. The dungeon, of course, is overwhelmed with all the connections and changes that Yasycht has forced upon it, which is why it consistently screams for us to get out. It is not necessarily referring to the beings trapped here, which are tools for its entertainment. It is referring to the connections that Yascyht has forced upon it, and its corruption of the games."

Pvilycht nodded. "That is likely true."

Lexie thought so. "Alright. So now, the next question is, to what degree does Yasycht control this dungeon? The last dungeon I was in–though Yasycht did manage to invade it somewhat and connect it to this one–had managed to restrict Yasycht's influence to only one very tiny area. That got me thinking that while Yasycht's presence here is more potent, perhaps his influence isn't as powerful as we think on this plane. With the tests, for instance. I'm entirely sure that Yasycht is the one who not only shut away the escape doors, further exacerbating the issue and forcing the dungeon to absorb more players than typical, but also twisted each test to be harder than normal. It also made my tests, in particular, different from the others. I think Neqal used Yasycht to do that, perhaps to hurt me. But even with that, his powers remain restricted. There was always a locked door, and he was still forced to play the game fairly, in that there was always a way for us to win, even when that path wasn't as straightforward as we thought."

"So what are you saying?" Ryn asked. "You are giving a lot of details, but I am not understanding your point."

Now, you see how it feels, Lexie thought.

"I'm saying that the dungeon has some power, and it clearly wants Yasycht out." Lexie grinned. "So why don't I help it?"