Aylin dismissed the group of streetlords before Spider returned. It would take some time for them to bring their gangs in line, and he had no desire to go around to every single camp and browbeat everyone into submission.

He also wasn’t certain that the streetlords wouldn’t get themselves killed by saying something stupid the moment they met Spider. The masked demon seemed to be forgiving enough, but Aylin wasn’t about to bet on it.

There was no realistic way for him to directly control every single gang himself, so he still needed the streetlords. After the display he, Vrith, and Violet had put on together with Lee, Aylin was pretty sure they’d make sure the rest of their gangs didn’t step out of line as well.

He still felt a little sick about the orders he’d given Lee. Dozens of demons were dead because of his order. Lee may have been the one to kill them, but she’d done it at his request. She’d been a sword that he had swung to make things easier on himself.

And worse, it had been easy.

I don’t regret it. These old bastards never would have bowed head to me if I didn’t do something drastic. By killing an entire gang, I’ll have saved all the demons that would have tried to push our boundaries later. This was the path that resulted in the least destruction.

It wouldn’t come without cost. He was more than aware of that. The demons he’d had killed were nameless and faceless to him, but everyone had connections. Some would have survived. He’d made enemies today.

Aylin didn’t know if it would be today or some time far in the future, but some of those enemies would come to try and take revenge. There was nothing he could do about that. All he could focus on was growing stronger and making sure he was capable of dealing with that when the time came.

Until then he had to make sure that their efforts thus far didn’t go to waste. He sat in the center of the market square with Vrith and Violet, watching the other demons in the Web resume their normal operations.

They were still there when Spider returned. The crowd parted as he strode through them and into the square, then quickly started to disperse out of self-preservation. Aylin and the others hurried to rise to their feet.

“Relax,” Spider said, a note of amusement in his voice. “I’ve dealt with the Rank 5. It went well. We’ll have no problems from her. I hope everything at camp was similarly successful.”

“More than,” Aylin confirmed with something between a bow and a nod. “Ten gangs have fallen to us. There aren’t many more, and any remaining holdouts will probably surrender or be destroyed by tomorrow.”

“That is good news,” Spider said with a nod. “Well done, all of you. No significant issues, I hope?”

“Nothing beyond expectations,” Aylin said. A droplet of sweat rolled down the back of his neck. He wished that either Violet or Vrith would say literally anything so Spider’s full attention wouldn’t be laid solely on his shoulders, but they had unified in being more than content to let him speak. Aylin tugged at the hems of his shirt to occupy his hands. “We may have some issues in the future, though.”

“Issues? Of what sort?”

“Bringing this many demons under one banner is going to draw a lot of attention,” Aylin said. “And they’re going to be expecting something. They won’t be able to fight with each other anymore. None of them will be happy giving up their resources for equality when the stronger ones used to be able to take from the weaker. If they don’t have something to focus on and grow stronger with, they’ll turn on us.”

Being this upfront with Spider is more than a little dangerous, but I don’t think dancing around the topic is a good idea either. I’d rather him get annoyed now than him rip my head off when the gang collapses from under us.

“Logically. You can’t take a predator’s food source away and expect them to be content with it,” Spider said with a knowing laugh. “I appreciate the foresight. They’ll have more than enough to deal with in the coming days. We—”

Spider cut himself off mid-sentence. His hand shot up to point at one of the rooftops and whisps of white wind howled to life around his fingers, forming into a churning sphere in a split instant.

Violet lunged at Aylin, tackling him to the ground and knocking the air from his lungs. He managed to keep his view of Spider as a gray blur flew through the air. It collided with the swirling sphere of wind, which detonated with a howl.

It sent the streak tumbling back, its momentum stolen. A metallic clatter rang out across the ground as a dagger bounced across the stone and scraped to a stop against the base of a tent. Aylin’s eyes flicked to the rooftop from where the dagger had come.

A black-clothed demon leapt to their feet and spun to flee. They weren’t nearly fast enough. Yellow light flashed and a brilliant crack split the air. A bolt of lightning ripped through the market square and slammed into the demon’s shoulder.

Bone crunched and flesh sizzled. The force of the magic spun the demon and threw them to the rooftop. Vrith blurred across the ground and vaulted up to the demon on the top of the roof.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Don’t kill them,” Spider ordered, his voice cold as he let his hand lower.

Aylin couldn’t see if Vrith responded to that. Violet rolled off him and pulled him back to his feet.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Aylin said as he brushed himself off. “I prefer caution to getting impaled. I didn’t think anyone would send assassins this quickly.”

“Wouldn’t be the first.” Spider’s eyes were locked on the rooftop as Vrith dragged the would-be assassin over to the edge of the roof and dropped down together with them, landing on the ground with a thud.

The demon groaned in pain. One of their arms was completely destroyed. If the magic had hit them in the chest, they’d have died instantly. Vrith held their other in a vice grip behind their back, not giving them any way to fight back as she brought her prisoner over to Spider.

“Fuck you,” the demon hissed. “You’re all dead.”

“Should I know you?” Spider tilted his head to the side.

“I won’t tell you shit,” the demon snarled. “I’m not scared.”

Aylin sucked on his teeth. That was a lie. He could taste it, as vibrant as the rising sun. The demon was terrified.

“He’s not telling the truth,” Aylin said.

Spider gave him a small nod, but the masked demon didn’t even seem to care all that much. He reached into his bag and pulled out a featureless, pitch-black mask.

“You’re the fourth one, you know that?” Spider asked, tossing the mask at the other demon’s feet. “Do you know what happened to the previous three? Or did your employer not tell you? And a dagger? Seriously? I’m honestly offended you thought that would kill me.”

The demon stared down at the mask. He looked back up to Spider, and Aylin could feel his confusion even through the mask covering his features.

“A Shield? You want me to deliver this to my employer?” A bark of laughter slipped from the demon’s mouth. “You really think you can buy him off? Or is this meant to be a bribe? It won’t work. I’ll die before I give anything away.”

“Buy him off? No. Why would I need to do something like that? And I don’t need to bribe someone like you. There’s no information you could give me that’s worth the hassle. Let me guess. Your employer is a giant bloke that wears a mask and speaks with a rough yet noble voice. Sound accurate?”

The assassin hesitated for a flicker of an instant. “No.”

“Lie,” Aylin said.

Spider laughed. “Thank you, Aylin. Put on the mask, demon.”

“Nothing you can do is worse than what will happen to me if I turn against a contractor,” the demon snarled. He tried to twist out of Vrith’s grip, but she dug her free hand into his wounded shoulder and he screamed in pain.

“Don’t move,” Vrith snarled.

“He believes that,” Aylin put in.

Spider nodded thoughtfully. “I see. Now put the mask on, demon. It’s just a shield. You stand no chance against me as you are. You aren’t even worth my time.”

“Arrogant bastard,” the assassin snarled.

“Arrogance is thinking you can kill me with a dagger,” Spider drawled. “There’s only one thing I want from you, and it isn’t information. Let him go, Vrith. If he tries to run, I’ll destroy his other arm and put the mask on his face myself.”

Vrith released the assassin’s arm and shoved him forward. The demon stumbled toward the mask — then lurched into motion, yanking a black dagger from his side and lunging at Spider’s neck with a burst of surprising speed.

A loud crack split the night. The assassin stumbled back, the dagger spinning from his fingertips, as Spider drove his knee up into his nose. He fell to his back, coughing and choking on blood.

“Can’t say I didn’t expect that, but you really need to avoid telegraphing your movements so much,” Spider said dryly. He put a foot on the mask and pushed it over to the fallen assassin. “Put. It. On.”

For a second, the only sound in the square were the assassin’s ragged breaths. Then, slowly, he reached out and grabbed the mask, sliding it onto his face. A dull hum filled the air as a crackling blue shield ignited and swirled to life around the assassin.

Aylin’s Runes reached out, brushing harmlessly across Spider but digging into the assassin and siphoning energy from him. The demon barely even seemed to notice. He scooped his dagger off the ground and Vrith moved forward, but Spider raised a hand to stop her.

“No. It’s fine. Let him try.” Spider raised his voice for a moment. “Lee? Are you here?”

Lee’s head popped out of her tent. “Yup!”

“Make sure we don’t have any more unwelcome guests, would you?”

“Kay,” Lee said with a nod. She sank into a shadow and vanished.

Spider turned back to the assassin and beckoned him onward. “Come on, then. Get back to it. I believe you had a job to be doing. Maybe you’ll be a bit better at it this time around.”

Aylin swallowed. Spider had given a powerful weapon to an assassin purely because the demon wasn’t even worth his time without it.

The assassin lowered his stance. Blood dripped from his crippled arm. Aylin could smell it on the wind, mixed with the scent of fear. A droplet rolled off a finger and dripped to the ground. With a scream of defiance, the assassin blurred forward.

Spider lifted a hand. The air before him crumpled, streaks of white energy swirling out like a spiderweb to meet the demon’s charge.

A loud, squelching crunch echoed through the market square. Aylin joined the demon in staring at his chest, which had collapsed as if torn apart from within. The shield still hummed between him and Spider’s palm, completely undamaged. Metal clattered to the ground once more as the assassin’s dagger clattered from his stiff fingers.

Then the assassin pitched back, the shield fading before crashed to the ground and laid still. The skin on the back of Aylin’s neck prickled and his hair stood on end.

Spider knelt, removing the mask from the assassin’s face and sliding it back into his bag. He glanced at Aylin. “Get rid of this body somehow, would you? Check it to see if there’s anything useful, but I doubt there will be.”

Aylin swallowed again before giving Spider a sharp nod. “I will do as you ask.”

“Much appreciated,” Spider said. “And after that, try to brush up a little bit. We’ll be going to an auction soon. We’re going to make it a memorable one.”

Aylin repressed a shudder.

Somewhere across the city, back in an egg-shaped mansion and hunched over in a throne with her head in her hands and unaware as to why, Pirren did the same.