Graverobber I can Steal Spells of the Dead

”Why else would you think I want to kill him? ” Mezlok asked. ”Unlike those other three, this one has maena, so you will get stronger after you end him. If you are able to. ”

Lyro slipped behind a refrigerator that was taller than him. ”Hes possessed! ” he whispered in his panic, now that he was quite close to the burned car those men were standing around. ”Hell eat me! If he doesn , theyll all beat me! I was betting on me stabbing him from the back and using the dark to run away and hide before the others caught on. But now thats stupid because hes possessed by a **ing daemon! I need time to think of some other way… ”

Killing a possessed person was seen as a good thing, as mercy upon their poor soul, but it mattered not to Lyro. He didn even know the man was possessed when hed decided to accept Mezloks idea of killing him. Lyro had his own reasons.

Daemons loose from dungeons possessed humans, using their bodies like a puppet, and if someone tried to kill the host, they could ignore most of the damage done to the possessed body, before abandoning the corpse to find another to take control of. Lyro had seen hunters exorcise a possessed woman and kill the daemon that emerged out of her, ripping its mask from its face and taking it away.

The hunters wore the masks they ripped from the hunted daemons to gain their abilities, Lyro had heard, but some argued against it, claiming it was impossible to control a daemon. This was why Lyro had been so eager to find for himself what happened when you wore a daemon mask. His eagerness had made him dumb, revealing the mask hed found to greedy eyes. He wouldve had lost his life, if not for Mezlok.

Who had possessed him, using him as a puppet.

This thing is not simple at all, Lyro thought tiredly. But I must collect myself. I can afford to slip up like I did back then with the three and almost paid for it with my life. Think before acting, Lyro, you cannot die here. It had been too long since hed used his old skills. He took a peek at the thugs, making sure they had not noticed his approach.

”The hex of the daemon possessing the man may stand a problem, ” Mezlok observed. ”And considering your Power, you would not stand a chance in close range. But your bet was stupid to begin with. How could you even get near him without being spotted? ”

”Huh? ” Lyro said in confusion. ”Thats like the easiest thing ever. ” He sensed Mezloks surprise. ”Is it now? ” ”I learned it to sneak into the city, ” Lyro admitted, ”to go through bins among other things. The police patrolled day and night closer to the border, so to get past them you had to be stealthy, learn to dodge eyes, become invisible in broad daylight. ”

”You are telling me you can get close enough to stab that man? ”

”Yeah, ” Lyro replied casually, pulling his head back from the corner. They were all unaware of him. Safe. For now.

”Have you ever stabbed someone? ”

”Does our fatelink not tell you? ”

”We share thoughts, not memories. And even then it is more complex. ”

”Oh. ” Lyro looked the other way to make sure he had an open escape route. ”Ah, no, ” he finally answered. ”I have never stabbed anyone before. ”

”Then how can you be so sure you can do it? ”

Lyro thinned his eyes, looking at the sharp length of rusted metal he held in his right hand. ”Whats there not to be sure about? ” he asked. ”Metal is harder than flesh, and this one has enough edge. Ill just go like this, push, and done. This will be red through his guts before he knows it. ” But that was the easy part.

Mezlok was doubtful. ”What about the strength behind that metal? Can you really push it through? ”

”I will, ” Lyro said. ”Somehow… ” If killing this possessed man was the cost of getting stronger, hed pay it in full and more. ”But what comes after is why Im wary. Will he die with a single stab, even through his heart? Will I be able to slip past the other five? What if they have other members close by? ” There were too many factors to consider, and one mistake could mean death. Lyro had to find the perfect window, a harmony between time, approach, attack, and retreat. The knowledge of his old skills was coming back, even though Lyro wasn fond of those memories. But its either that or death… ”

”I can tell you have not done this before, ” Mezlok observed. Because he was thinking too long, too much?

Lyro had too. Harming one member of a gang means provoking all of them, ” he explained to the daevil. ”Ive seen the end of that story too many times to not want any part in it. Usually, if you keep your head down, the gangs won mess with you. They have more animosity toward the border police called Handlers and the city people. And obviously their rival gangs. That was a good thing for me growing up.

But now…now that I have a choice, an opportunity to not continue living so pathetically, I know that man is just an obstacle in my path. And what stands in the way must become the way. Lyro wasn against killing the gangster even before knowing the man was possessed as he had no pity or affection for murderers. Killing a killer is justice, and if Im to deliver it, Ill do so gladly. Getting stronger for it is just an added bonus.

Mezlok raised a brow in confusion—inside Lyros mind, of course. ”So why have you not done so before this? Killing killers, delivering justice? ”

Lyro looked at his hands, his mangled hands that had been perfectly healed. ”Because before this I did not have a daevil on my side. ”

Mezlok grinned. ”And when the others come for you? ”

”Let them, ” Lyro said, heartbeat thundering. ”When they find me, theyll find death. Im not going back. I refuse to stay pathetic. I refuse to die in this dump. ” A lot of obstacles stood ahead, an array of things he hadn done before, experiences he hadn even thought of having.

Steeling his nerves to go up against a gangster possessed by a daemon was the first of many to come. And if he couldn face even this, then there was no path going forward, as on that path waited blight daemons and hunters, daevils and daevilmen.

Ill survive to see the infinite tomorrow, Lyro vowed to himself. Even if it means risking my life in the finite today.

Mezlok snorted. ”There is no tomorrow if you die today, boy. ”

”The only ones who die in Mezloks presence are his enemies, ” Lyro threw instantly.

Mezloks daevil eyes widened in surprise before he bellowed a loud laughter of amusement. ”I was right about you, ” he said, grinning. ”You are an interesting mortal, Lyro. I definitely like you more than the others I have encountered through the decades. ”

”That so? ” Lyro whispered. ”Then if you want to see something even more interesting, tell me about the abilities I can make use of right now. I have a plan, but I can make it alone. ”

”Fatelinked can never be alone, ” Mezlok said. ”And as for the abilities, you have but two, since the rest of my hexes were— ”

My fault. I know. We
e over that. Tell me of those two. Your daevilhex, I assume.

”Indeed. Each daevil has a unique daevilhex, and each daevilhex is made of two different hexes. In your case, one belongs to your Left Hand, and the other to your Right Hand. ”

Lyro nodded, remembering. ”Thats what they were… ” As if the symbols knew they were being recalled, they emerged out of thin air in front of him, glowing with an ethereal red-orange radiance that did not make anything brighter.

[Daevilhex: Grim Chains and Reaper Scythe]

[Left Hand: Soul Shackles (0/3)]

[Cost: (3) Maena.]

[Effect: can temporarily suppress any (1) Power of the target by (5) points.]

[Right Hand: Soul Scythe (0/3)]

[Cost: (10) Maena. Can only be used (1) time in (1 day).]

[Effect: can harvest souls of the dead.]

”I can call them just by thinking? ” Lyro asked, but did not wait for any answer, instead thinking of a certain Power he wanted to see again. It appeared at the speed of thought.

[Maena: (3/3)]

Lyro sighed. Mezlok had said he had two abilities. That was true enough. But what good was the Right Hand hex as of now, this…Soul Scythe, if he couldn even use it? ”Not two. Just one. And barely even that. ” He did not have enough maena. Though he was surprised he had any at all.

Most hunters were maeges, users of maegecraft. That was the only way for humans to stand against monsters from other worlds. Maena was something you were born with, and the ones who did were by extension raised to become future daemon hunters, protectors of humanity. So how Lyro had this genetic gift, he didn know—

”It is mine, ” Mezlok answered. ”Weakened by you. But mine. ” That made sense. When they had been locked together in a fatelink, Lyro mustve received the daevils maena, just as he had got his abilities. And one other thing.

Pocket, Lyro commanded, remembering how it had contained the thing that had healed him perfectly.

[Pocket:]

[Crystal: Strength Dew]

”The soul of everything is a rune, an archaic symbol, ” Mezlok read Lyros question before he even thought of it. ”And if something is maegical enough, you can evoke its soul and turn it into its rune form to store it in your Pocket. ”

Lyro nodded, looking into the symbol…the rune for the crystal inside his Pocket. Before other runes burst out of it in a glowing flurry only visible to his eyes.

[Strength Dew: can double strength for 2 minutes.]

There were no variables. This item had concrete limits.

Just as Lyro now had a concrete idea of what he had in his arsenal.

So he took a peek out again. The target hadn moved. ”The plans still to stab and run, but this time I have a solid distraction. ” And a maegical ability and item as well.

Mezlok grinned. ”So tell me what it is. And it better be interesting. ”

”I promise on that. ” Lyro dropped his makeshift weapon when he stepped out of his cover and broke into a sprint toward the thugs, making sure his steps were as loud as they could be. But instead of telling it, how about I just show you?