Blood leaked from Colt's nose, the warmth bringing him back to true reality. Diving too long into the depths of his soul was a recipe for disaster. He wiped at the blood; his eyes glazed as he looked at the notification. It was the only thing he could see in this pitch-black room with the laundry machine with its faint smell of detergent, so he welcomed it.

  In his left hand was a pile of dust; the remains of the purple meteor shattered the force of those Edicts tied to it gone, used as the key to leverage his own advancement. Colt rubbed at his head. Movement swelled around his soul; the universal law was ready to be used. Eager to see the light of day. Where before, it had been like dipping his toes into a sea with a monster, now, he was ankle-deep, and that wild creature could wrap a tentacle around him at any point and pull him under.

  Yet it didn’t, for even though he knew it lurked out there, more powerful than a man like him could fathom, now it had a sense of him. A loose understanding. He wouldn’t go so far as to call it a respect, but perhaps something more like the way a cat likes a red dot moving on the floor.

  ———

  Congratulations.

  Evolving Edict: Movement has granted an additional reward from your Icon.

  Message From Icon:

  Wow, man. Propelling this thing to the lesser rank already? I’m impressed! My little gladiator is growing up fast. To think you managed this before Level 75, that accomplishment is just enough to let me do what I wanted. Getting you even stronger. And sheesh, do you need it. I’m seeing the thread to Victory here, and it’s a narrow one. And not just with this Denny—

  Oh. I can’t say more.

  This damn system and its limitations.

  Alright—so, the deal is, you’ve made a stride on our path, a direct, tangible, and difficult step in one of our most vital Edicts, I’ve got some leverage here. You know that skill I was able to get you for accepting my Icon? Yeah, now it’s time to pay it off and bump it up to what I’d really wanted to get you right away. Take this and have fun!

  Reward:

  You have gained Skill: Olympic Physique [Epic] (Basic)

  This Skill has replaced Olympic Physique [Rare] (Basic); you have started this skill at a lower level due to rarity difference and mastery.

  Olympic Physique (Basic) - Level 2

  This skill enhances the user’s Dexterity, Strength, and Endurance up to 5%. This effect is similar to the lesser version of said skill, yet the benefit is permanent. Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘if it’s permanent, is it always being trained?’ No, unfortunately not. Victory, dear disciple of Nike, will advance the level of this skill and, therefore, your power. Prove yourself a victor and overcome challenges, and it will advance. The stronger the skill gets, the more difficult the accomplishments to advance this skill must be.

  And no, this percentage increase will not show up on your Status Screen, please be aware of your Physique’s effect.

  ———

  Colt’s skin turned maybe a tint more golden as the new skill took hold. It was powerful. Nike delivered as she promised; he could almost see the Goddess giggling to herself as she sent the message, hiding whatever hints she might. Colt smiled in the dark and stood. His soul felt thrashed, but he overall felt more refreshed. A boon to be sure, even though the percentage increase was 5% less—but having it activate at all times was far better.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Colt?” Sarah asked.

  Colt rolled his shoulders and answered, “Coming.”

  He walked out; she, Nate, and Julia were all gathered. The night was still in the sky, but it was nearing its end, meaning the time for their plan had come—right on schedule for him to launch his invasion of New Nashville.

  Nate gave him a searching look.

  “It worked?”

  “I did it,” Colt said, letting a small splash of his Movement Edict for the soldier to sense. It was like a stone thrown into the vast void of the universe around them, a brief blip to show the difference in his grasp on the law.

  Before, with a minor grasp on Edict, this kind of poking around and flexing of this Edict wouldn’t have been possible; now, he was afforded a more refined control.

  Nate gave an approving look.

  “Jesus, your nose is bleeding, and you look like you just got through a match on the mats—are we really sending him in alone?” Sarah asked, her concern betraying the harsh words. She got close and wiped the blood off.

  “She has a point; you look rough.”

  Colt laughed and shook his head. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m going to see a healer then.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He might have looked rough. His body sure was sore, as if it’d been flipping out and actually flying through an atmosphere, but already he was feeling more knit together. Enough, at least, for what amounted to a stealth operation. Out of them all, If anything went wrong, he was the best equipped to handle and deal with the situation.

  With two hours to sunrise and assuring his friends he’d be fine, Colt threw on the black cloak to conceal his identity. Then, he took his escort to the city of New Nashville, slipping through the dark and misty streets like a group of ghosts in the night.

  He took the chance to test the new ability, feeling the way his body reacted. The baremost lighter, almost like he’d gotten a couple off free levels. Easy to adjust to.

  When they reached the outskirts of the stadium and a building to set up, Colt took one long look at New Nashville with its lights cutting through the dark. Within it were thousands of people… Regardless of him saving Jimmy, he knew, looking now, what this power he’d claimed was.

  It was a responsibility. He’d known that since the first dungeon, there wasn’t a point in having this kind of power if you didn’t exercise it to bring justice to those who needed it. And the countless people in there that Denny planned to control and use to his own ends, they needed a person to free them.

  The four of them set up in a nearby house, concealed and in total darkness. Nate kept a lookout as Sarah mumbled to herself about the stupidity of the plan—Julia was a bit more put together, hanging near those two and keeping an eye out. If the guards did a sweep, they would withdraw, but their primary function was to form a sort of backup if Colt came barreling out of the city with a ton of guards on him.

  “Now or never, right?” Colt said, more of their night slowly winding away from them, lost to the river of time.

  “Be careful,” Sarah said, her arms folded as she looked at him. “If you’re gone, we’re fucked, and Jimmy is screwed. So don’t mess this up.”

  “We’re all out here,” Nate confirmed, his eyes not leaving the window as he kept watch.

  Julia gave him a thumbs up, “You’re the rogue. You got this.”

  Colt snorted and pulled the black hood of the cloak onto his head, hiding his face. With one last look at his friends, he snuck out the door of the building and slipped the little ways remaining to the city. Darkness wrapped around him, his new Dexterity and speed making it a bit easier to move—it added around five Dexterity points. As his stats and the new skill grew, that would only widen further.

  For this mission, he needed to be a ghost haunting the night.

  Every lesson Nate taught him came to mind as he moved. Low profile, fitting into the same colored backdrops—it wasn't hard considering he was wearing black and it was the middle of the night. Within a few hundred feet of the stadium and its superior lighting to eliminate hiding places, he paused, watching the guards milling outside.

  His breath slowed, his heart beating in his chest. Getting discovered here would mean the full weight of New Nashville would bear down—they could get away, maybe. But not unscathed. And he wasn’t sure if he’d get another chance to free Jimmy.

  There were more. Denny probably suspected they might try something. Guards came and went, but Colt stood steady, waiting. Watching.

  For a normal person, there might not be a gap. They couldn’t easily scamper across the distance. Let alone into the entrance of the stadium. Colt didn’t bother, slinking around the side of the stadium, where the patrols lessened. Even here, there were watchers to be seen, keeping an eye out for anyone who might break in, a smart move considering the world was filled with super-human freaks now as a product of the system.

  Denny had wisely and strategically knocked out any buildings or obstructions within four hundred feet and erected smaller scrap metal watch towers around the perimeter to have eyes on their outside at all times. Even now in the latest hours of the night, a full guard patrolled the outside with careful detection

  His citizen recruit program was working well. Using a carrot and a stick with personal rights and compensation was an effective strategy. Even here, with no entrance, Colt wouldn’t have the time to scamper up to the stadium and cut a hole through the wall—they would discover it in seconds if they didn’t outright catch him rushing the stadium. Alarms would ring, and he’d have the whole of New Nashville on his head in minutes.

  In the ordinary world, it’d be impossible for a normal person to sneak into. Maybe a top-trained spy.

  Colt wasn’t a spy, but he also wasn’t normal, neither was the world.

  When the tiniest gap appeared, he acted—rushing with his new Movement; the world formed into a crawl as he ran, propelling him straight to the wall in less than a second, but Colt didn’t stop there, he activated Phantom’s Gambit as he propelled straight into the lump of steel plating, then, in a second, popped out the other side, no worse for wear.

  Using the last dregs of his Movement he scampered into a hiding spot, not that he’d needed to. With the way Denny had arranged his defenses, this part of the stadium was an interior section that had been walled off from easy access; so, as he crouched in the darkness, heart hammering away and beads of sweat collecting on his brow, there wasn’t another living person in sight.

  Just him and an old hot dog stand.

  Colt waited another couple of minutes.

  No beat of alarm—he’d rushed the wall when the guard hadn’t been looking. From the perspective of anyone watching, he would’ve simply been a blur of black if they’d even seen him in the first place.

  “Damn, that was easy,” Colt said, catching his breath.

  So, yeah, maybe he was a rogue if sneaking somewhere was this easy—it should be methodological and slow, right? This stealth thing. Then again, maybe there was something to be said about the strategy of getting in as fast as possible and out just as fast. Could you see if a rogue they were there and gone in a second or two?

  Speed equaled stealth.

  Colt snuck forward when he was certain that no one else was there and faced toward the interior wall; if he followed this and phased through a couple of more walls, he’d be back in New Nashville.

  As Colt stared, letting his soul well down and preparing to put Movement back under wraps, he appreciated his growing skill set. This wasn’t what he’d imagined himself as being the best at in the apocalypse, but—well, if you could sneak through solid walls, move at a super-human rate, and cut through buildings with ease, really, what need did he have for throwing fireballs or lifting skyscrapers.

  With one last breath, he focused and moved on.

  Getting into New Nashville was a breeze, but tracking down Jimmy—that was going to be the crux of the issue. As Colt rolled his shoulders and gave a smile in the dark, he let the worry roll off him. He was going to be the phantom of New Nashville tonight.