Bubbles filled the waiting room. Father felt around for his dropped handgun and blinked away the ringing in his head. He almost wished he had some more neurotoxin to help clear his head and numb the pain. His chest wound was bleeding with a fresh stream that clouded the water in front of his face. Pain throbbed as he sat up.

  Through the smoke and bubbles, Father could only barely see thin shrimp legs scurrying across the far side of the waiting room. All the chairs had collapsed from the explosion, making Tiger swerve to avoid the fallen furniture.

  Father still had one gun in his waistband and the katana on his back. Neither one would matter if Tiger could cast a shield. So far, he’d seen a similar fireball spell and the blue shield. Tiger likely had the lower tier spells like Father did, so he needed to watch for anything similar to tickle, spark, or the others.

  Water hissed and boiled. A warbling blue ball burst through the smoke and dispersed the last of the bubbles. Father had seen the absolute devastation spells could cause, so he wasn’t willing to see whether this unfamiliar ball was dangerous or not.

  Hop

  He bounced into the air and pulled the handgun from his waistband. Energy thrummed as the ball passed underneath and collided with the double door. Arcing bolts spread through the material, reaching out to Father like tendrils. The door shook and rattled like a monster was trying to escape.

  Father fired the handgun repeatedly. He caught a glimpse of a blue shield, but the smoke and bubbles obscured his view once again. Tiger was faster than any other enemy Father had fought. His normal tactics obviously weren’t going to work, so he needed to—

  Father dove to the side as a smaller, faster fireball zipped by. It singed his chitin as it passed, and detonated behind him in a fiery cloud rather than a true explosion. Father tensed, squeezing his claws tight as the fire washed over him. If he was a fleshy creature without a shell, he would’ve been roasted. New pains had still wormed their way inside and the blood running from his chest was far worse than before.

  Rock Throw

  Each spell cleared more of the smoke, thinning it as it drifted to fill in the gaps. Before long, they would have a clear view of one another. Little scurrying feet were still easily visible while Father was low. He pulled up a portion of the ground beside him and let it hover in the air. Tiger was fast. To hit the shrimp, he’d need to throw where he would be, not where he was.

  Father sent the boulder sailing as soon as Tiger changed directions. The shrimp scurried along with multi-colored lights dancing around his feet that cast horrific shadows in all directions. The boulder easily cut through the smoke and revealed a panicked shrimp with eyes locked on his doom. Little balls of glowing magic swirled Tiger’s arms, and when the shrimp thrust one arm forward, the balls spiraled and launched.

  Each of the three balls punched a hole through the boulder to form a triangle. The chunk of flooring fell in two, landing on each side of Tiger. Shrimp legs scurried over the rubble and sent a little spark at Father.

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  Zap

  Father’s ball of electricity hit the shrimp’s fire spell, combining both into a sphere holding an electric firestorm. Even though both were weak spells, the sphere ripped the ground apart and vaporized any rubble caught inside.

  Tickle

  Tiger sent a chill spell at the same time. They both hit the raging storm within the sphere and joined. Ethereal laughs joined the frozen fire and lightning bolts. Father backed away as the sphere grew. Tiger threw a chair and scurried away. Wood splintered and exploded as soon as the chair touched the magical storm.

  Anything that contacted the magic was destroyed, and any spell that they sent seemed to make the storm angrier. Luckily, Father had a spell that could go around the sphere.

  Magic Missile

  Father threw the spell to the side with every bit of his strength. It flew forward for a few feet before curving. Father stopped watching it. More than just blood burst from the hole in his chest. Something had come loose, and each breath in was little more than a gasp in his gills.

  With effort, he rolled to his side. Tiger scurried away as the smoky missile pursued. The shrimp didn’t make it far before the spell connected with his tail. Tiger slid over the ground, knocking more chairs aside.

  They both stayed on the ground, groaning and complaining. Father focused on his few points in endurance and tried to sit up. He choked on his own blood while sitting up. Something squishy hung out of the hole in his chitin. A simple tap with his claw sent horrible waves of pain through his entire body.

  Tiger pulled himself along the ground with his numerous arms. “That was cheating!”

  Father opened his mouth to reply, but a cloud of blood puffed out. He pressed his lips together, but the blood still leaked from his gills. It all stemmed from a hit he had taken from Magaleus. If Father was going to go back to before the injury, he’d have to go all the way back to checkpoint one, right after beating Mister Logs. But he wasn’t dead yet and he wasn’t going to give up. Father pressed his claws into the ground and stood on wobbly feet.

  Tiger had propped himself up against a pile of ruined chairs. His witch hat was skewed on his head, pressing hard into a ruined, squinting eye. Blood leaked from a gash along the side of the shrimp’s body, cutting through all of his black stripes. Fire swirled around one of his arms and gathered in a compressed ball of liquid flames.

  The sphere in the middle of the room had already grown about twice its original size. A crater was left underneath where it had vaporized the concrete. Adding another spell to the chaotic mix could just kill them both. If there was a debuff to dying to some magical storm, Father would be finding out soon.

  Tiger’s fireball hit the sphere and turned the entire thing red. It pulsed and let out a shockwave that pushed Father back against the electrified door. He fell back to the ground and twitched. Each movement brought a new stab of pain. Death was the only escape.

  Father grabbed a handgun lying on the floor beside him and sat up. He steadied his arm and aimed at the injured shrimp. Tiger shied away from the growing sphere, but did nothing to move. The shrimp’s legs were broken and twisted. Father pulled the trigger and flinched as a bullet launched from the barrel of the handgun. It passed through the growing sphere and exited the other side coated with frozen flames and bursts of electricity.

  Third in Command

  Duke Tiger

  Wizard

  Defeated

  Father turned the gun on himself.

  Return to Checkpoint 1, Return to Checkpoint 2, or Return to Start?

  Returned to Checkpoint 1.

  Beginning Run 41.

  Attributes Set.

  Strength 05

  Endurance 10

  Agility 05

  Intelligence 25

  Luck 05

  Class set.

  Wizard.