Stormblade [Skill Merge Portal Break] (B1 Complete)

Power surged through Ellen as she started casting Shadow Shapes. Her mind cranked into overdrive. Details pushed into her thoughts, then were discarded.

Kade had shoved her to the side and jolted the wheelchair. Jessie was awake; her head pivoted around as she tried to get her bearings. The hooded figure stood behind Ellen's favorite chair. Everything else in the apartment was the way it always was. But the intruder was inside.

Kade moved. A handful of air darts filled his hand.

The man in the apartment didn't move. He stood there. His bow was on his back. His hands were both where Ellen could see them. He didn't say anything more, but his words bounced through her head. "Kade Noelstra, it's time for us to talk." What did that mean?

It meant…

Shadow Shapes dissipated, its power unused and returning to her core. She waited a beat, ready to cast again. "Kade, what is this?"

But Kade didn't say anything. His blade stayed out, and the five Zephyrs in his off-hand stayed aimed at the man.

Jessie did, though. "Caleb Richter. I thought you—"

"You thought wrong. I'm running out of time," the man said.

"Who is Caleb Richter?" Ellen asked.

All three of the others started talking at once, and Ellen only caught one word. A name. Carter.

"He's Carter Richards. We ran into him when we were E-Rankers," I said. Tallas's Dueling Blade stayed locked on the intruder; the man's scar was new, and so was the hood and cloak. They both looked a little ridiculous—like he was trying to be edgy or secretive. Then again, my heart raced, and I'd been an instant from attacking him, so he was pulling the edgy, criminal look off.

I hadn't ruled it out yet, either. Our first encounter had been…fine. His team had raced Ellen, Jeff, and me for an E-Rank portal. We'd won, and then we'd turned around and saved him. But after that, he'd gotten more hostile. In our first Dark Citadel portal, we'd fought and beaten his team. After that, I'd lost touch with him.

But I remembered what I'd said then. 'He's poison, and he'll rot her from the inside.'

My sword didn't leave my hand, but I slowly unsummoned the five Ariette's Zephyrs I'd readied.

"And why is he here?" Ellen asked. She didn't relax either. "He shouldn't be here…should he?"

"No. I'm supposed to be dead—"

I cut Carter off before he could get rolling. "Shut up. You're lucky I didn't kill you. I still haven't decided not to."

Carter stiffened. His hand moved toward his bow, and my sword flicked back slightly, readying a lunge. He stopped moving. "Kade, you need to—"

"I don't need to do anything. You broke into my house."

Jessie cleared her throat and wheeled herself in. She stared at the pile of Jeff's stuff, then nodded. "He didn't touch anything except that chair. If he had, it would have been Jeff's armor or weapon. He's not here to steal anything or wreck the place, so…Kade, maybe he really just wants to talk."

I rolled my eyes. The dueling blade stayed on target. I wasn't ready to relax that much. But I did nod. "So talk."

Carter's eyes flicked to Jessie and Ellen. "I wanted to talk alone."

"Should have thought about that before you showed up here," Ellen said. She sat in her armchair and glared at him.

I was struggling as I sat on a kitchen stool, between Carter and the door. My vision had tightened to the point where I couldn't see Ellen or Jessie at the side of the room; the world was only Carter's hand, his face, and his bow. My every instinct screamed at me to fight him; he'd broken into my home, threatened me, and put my sister in danger. I could forgive him for using her to give me a message. I wouldn't forget it, but I could forgive it. But this? This was a line too far.

And it'd be easy. I could beat him. I could beat anyone who wasn't B-Rank or higher—and probably quite a few B-Rankers. My build was strong, especially in a duel. And an archer in close quarters was a massive mismatch for a spellblade striker. I could run him over before he could react.

Jessie was here, though. She cleared her throat. "Okay. Caleb, why are you here?"

"Deborah Callahan," he said.

My vision cleared. Ellen had positioned herself behind Carter, cutting him off from the window. Jessie sat on her blanket and pillow nest, chair abandoned the moment she could ditch it. And Carter hadn't moved.

"What about her?" I asked. "She's left me alone for four weeks. I've got other problems."

"She's not done with you, though. I know her, and she's not one to let a grudge go." Carter tried to step toward me, but Ellen reached out and pushed him down into the armchair. He resisted for a moment, then crumpled under the B-Ranker's strength. To his credit, he ignored her and kept talking. "If she was leaving you alone, it's because she'd thought she'd won. When she realizes she hasn't, she'll be back."

"And what does that have to do with you?"

Carter shrugged. "Easy. I'm supposed to be dead. If she finds out I'm not, she's going to come for me, either to recruit me again or to punish me for bailing on her. I don't want either of those—and I definitely don't want her going after my old teammates if she can't get a hold of me. And it'll happen. Have you been to any of the GC centers in the last couple of days?"

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

I hesitated. "No. Why?"

"Lots of Roadrunner recruiters," Jessie said. "They've been pushing hard for anyone with potential to join up. I checked in on them, and they had all the necessary paperwork, but something felt off. It's unusual for the Roadrunners to recruit like that. Most of the guilds go after specific people instead of mass-recruiting."

"And that's the problem," Carter said. He tried to stand up again, and Ellen cleared her throat. "Can't you just let me pace?"

"No," she said.

"Fine. Whatever. Look, Caleb Richter is an independent delver out of California. He doesn't have any friends, he doesn't have a team he runs with, he's a true solo operative. But he's mid-C-Rank, and he's got potential to get to high-B with his build." Carter's face darkened under the hood. "I had to make some hard choices on that. Any guild would pick Caleb up if they could; he'd be a competent member of a B-Rank strike team with a little work.

"I've put a lot of effort into rebuilding as Caleb," Carter continued. "If the Roadrunners get an eye on me, they'll want to recruit me. If I say no, they'll need a reason why. And if Deborah does any digging into who Carter Richter is, she'll realize what Representative Gerald should have when I first showed up at the GC center—that he doesn't exist."

Jessie bristled and opened her mouth, but Carter kept on talking. "I picked you because you were young and new, and I figured you'd do a less thorough job of checking Caleb's background."

"I was also the only one on duty," Jessie said. "And I'm not that bad at my job."

"You know I picked a time when you were the only one, right?" Carter coughed.

I watched as he composed himself. So far, he hadn't said anything that felt incorrect or like a lie. But I still didn't understand too much. And even though the battle focus had faded, I was still far too angry. He'd come into my home. Jessie could have been hurt. I tried to swallow it and focus on the man in front of me, not just the anger inside.

"Why not leave? Go to California, or the Texas Cities? Why stay here?"

"Because my people are here." Carter tried to stand for a third time, and this time, Ellen's aura lashed out for a moment, and he collapsed, instantly pale and sweating. "Okay, okay, jeeze. Look, I've got teammates. Terri and Lizzie. They're the best people from the team you beat and the team whose members you killed and put in the hospital. I know they're safe right now—and they're both moving up in the Roadrunners' ranks. Terri's better off than Lizzie, but when Deborah realizes I'm alive, she'll look for revenge. I can't put them in harm's way."

"So, this isn't really about Caleb at all, then?" Jessie asked.

"No, it's about Caleb. I want to abandon him and go back to being myself, but I can't do that while Deborah's around. But it's also about Terri and Lizzie. I was in command. They're still my people, and I need to see them through what's coming."

Ellen's eyes hadn't left the back of Carter's head the whole time. "And what's coming?"

"Depends on who wins the Roadrunners' civil war. If the Light of Dawn does? Nothing. But if Deborah does, that won't be the end of her ambitions. It'll be war between the guilds."

"And what do you want us to do about it?" I asked.

Carter was playing with fire.

He hadn't realized how strong Kade Noelstra had gotten. How fast. The spellblade hadn't even been a spellblade the last time they'd encountered each other. He'd still been relying on Scripts and Bindings. Now he had magic, lightning reflexes, and a sword Carter had never seen—one that screamed danger. He'd miscalculated; Kade was way beyond him, and if he'd known, he wouldn't have tried meeting like this.

And the shadow mage—Eleanor Traynor, according to his digging—was even worse. B-Rank. He'd barely avoided pissing himself from her special aura, and she'd only used it for a second or two. And the anger and fury coming off both of them was almost as overwhelming as her aura.

But he couldn't back down. Not now. He was committed. This was his only path forward.

Kade was his only path forward.

The swordsman's question hung in the air. Carter took a deep breath. It was all so much simpler now. He'd been maneuvering, manipulating, trying to figure out how to make this contact happen, and the waiting…waiting. Now, for better—or more likely, for worse—he was committed. "Easy. You're a maniac. Get rid of Deborah, and all my problems go away. Then I'll go away for you and your sister."

"You want me to kill an A-Ranker?" I snorted. "Not happening."

It was the dumbest possible move I could make. I'd watched Deborah fight—first against the A-Rank Roadrunner fighter in their duel in the GC sparring room, and then in the field, with Angelo Lawrence. She could weather any storm I threw at her, and the difference in power between a C or B-Ranker and an A-Ranker on the cusp of S was massive. I couldn't survive her hits. She could tank mine and keep going. I probably couldn't even take her in a sparring room, with the settings tuned in my favor.

Besides, the death of an A-Ranker outside of a portal would be a massive crisis for Phoenix, and an acting guild leader's death would be worse.

"I'm not doing it," I repeated.

"I think you will," Carter said. "I think the only choice you have in the matter is whether you start the fight or wait until she hits S-Rank. She's been close for months. It's only a matter of time before she's one of the top twelve delvers in the city and on the larger council. When that happens, she'll be untouchable."

"No, she won't. But I don't think I can win in a fight against her. Not as it stands."

Carter rolled his eyes. "Kade, everyone knows you killed an A-Rank portal boss—as a C-Ranker. No one knows exactly what happened, but that much has gotten out. If anyone can—"

"Kade said no," Jessie said quietly from her blanket nest.

Carter went quiet. His face paled, and for a second, I thought that Ellen was using her aura again. Then he nodded slowly. "Fine. I'll figure it out myself. I'm not sure how, though. I was counting on you, Kade."

He stood up, and this time, Ellen let him go. I kept my eyes locked on the back of his head until the door closed behind him, then rushed over and flicked the locks shut. Tallas's Dueling Blade was still in my hand. I unsummoned it and my armor, then collapsed into the couch, pushing Jeff's stuff out of the way. Ellen was already in her armchair.

"Why'd he listen to you?" Ellen asked.

Jessie shrugged. "I don't know. So, what are you going to do?" Her voice was soft and hard to hear; exhaustion was setting in.

"Nothing. I'm going to let this play out, focus on getting myself to B-Rank, and let Carter continue to be poison. I told you he was going to rot her away, Ellen."

"You did," Ellen agreed. She yawned. "It's been a long night. What time is it? Two?"

"Two thirty," Jessie said. "I'm heading to—"

All three of our phones went off simultaneously. I reached for mine reflexively—the only reason for that was a GC alert, and the only reason to send one at 2:30 AM was…

Governing Council Message:

Status: Extreme Emergency

An unknown portal, between D and B-Rank, broke in the Peoria district, near Arrowhead. All guilds are currently unable to respond, and Governing Council teams are en route but delayed.

All civilians in the vicinity of Arrowhead are advised to shelter in place. Any delvers who respond to the unknown portal break are advised that this is an instantaneous break, and that any contributions to the protection of civilians will be rewarded in accordance with Governing Council policy. They are also advised not to enter the portal without a B-Ranked team.

Interested delvers should not respond to this message, but should be cautious in approaching the portal and any portal monsters. Contributions and initial response bounties will be rewarded after the portal is cleared and the aggressing monsters are culled.

All delvers in the Peoria district should be on alert for D to B-Ranked monsters until further notice.

Jessie stared at me, bleary-eyed. I yawned, stretched, and stared at Ellen. "How much do you want to bet Carter—er, Caleb—is responding to this?"

"No bet. He will. Are we?" she asked.

"Yep. Gear up. We're going."

Jessie yawned again. She tried to push herself up, then collapsed. I held out a hand, and she took it. "Kade, I'm going to…"

I opened my mouth to tell her no, but she cut me off before I could protest. "…bed."