9 Chapter 9

Daniel rushed towards Stanford while concealed in the shroud of Limbo. Stanford was trying to create distance, which meant that whatever triggered his teleport card either had a cooldown or a limited number of uses. Either way it was the same result.

The smoke covering the ground of Limbo didn't so much as stir as Daniel sprinted through it. Not that he needed to rush, he'd reach Stanford with more than enough time. The guy seemed to have fallen into a mental trap that honestly speaking, Daniel hadn't even been trying to set.

'He's putting way too much faith in the description I gave him of my card,' Daniel thought. 

'Invisibility is just invisibility, which would mean that Stanford could still hit me even if he can't see me. If Stanford knew how my card really worked he'd be sprinting to the other side of the arena while waiting for whatever cooldown his card had to reset. Either way all I need to do is rush him down and hit him, simple,' Daniel thought as he swung his sword low towards Stanford's leg. A split second before making contact Daniel returned to the real world and felt the sword cut swiftly through empty air. 

He was gone, again.

Daniel would have cursed if he'd had the oxygen to spare. 

Stanford was now standing ten feet away from him and was halfway through swinging his sword in a downward strike. Daniel dove back into Limbo as Stanford finished the attack, and could only assume that he'd barely dodged his sword when splinters of chitin scattered across the floor beneath where he stood.

It was now or never.

Daniel ran forward towards Stanford, who continued to swing his sword like a madman. Daniel paid the man's attacks little heed as he moved through them as if they weren't even there, and then did the same to Stanford himself. 

Daniel ran through the man's body, not so much as disturbing the smoke making up his form before positioning himself behind him and swinging his sword in a horizontal strike towards Stanford's side.

At the last second Daniel appeared back in the real world and felt the satisfying impact of his wooden sword hitting its target as whatever had been teleporting Stanford away failed to activate.

Daniel didn't have incredible stamina, but he did pride himself in having a good bit of physical strength. Afterall, it wasn't easy dragging a hundred or so pounds of equipment down a caveshaft that you couldn't even stand up in over and over again.

So to say that Stanford crumpled would be an understatement. Daniel was pretty sure that he'd heard an audible crack when he'd hit the guy, and he was really hoping that he hadn't just broken his ribs.

'It's probably not a great first impression to seriously injure one of my potential team members on day one, but... on the other hand this entire event was engineered to see me fail. Not to mention that cheap shot he took in the beginning. You know what, I don't feel that bad about it anymore,' Daniel thought as he bent over to see how Stanford was faring.

The gruff man was lying on his side and wheezing heavily, not that Daniel was doing much better. He was half tempted to join Stanford. Running while holding your breath is not a fun activity, and it was only after a solid twenty seconds of painting that Daniel finally managed to force out the question, "Are you okay?"

Stanford could only seem to laugh in response, "Don't you worry about me one bit. I should be healed up in no time, just let the arena do her work."

As if to emphasize his point Stanford rolled onto his back and rested his arms behind his head. 

Daniel watched Stanford with more than a little skepticism. The occasional winces he made when he moved gave the impression that the arena healed slower then he was implying.

"That's an impressive card you have," Daniel commented. "Is there a limit to the things you can reach with it?"

Stanford chuckled, "One little bout with me and you think I'll just tell you what my card does?"

'Fair point,' Daniel thought.

"Oh uh, sorry for asking. I guess that was rude of me," Daniel said while scratching the back of his head.

"Don't be, you were impressive enough that you may as well already have made it onto the team. You were meant to fail that test you know. One card is almost never enough to join an expedition outside the walls and Gabriel wanted me to be your wakeup call."

Daniel's eyes cut to where he'd last seen Gabriel, but the man was gone, "I figured that out pretty quick after I saw you teleport away from me. Y'all can't have reasonably expect me to hit you when your teleporting is automatic."

Stanford waved his hand dismissively before wincing at the motion, "It's only an uncommon and far from perfect. It has a cooldown of thirty seconds, and it caps out at three uses an hour. My real treasure's my other card. Want to see it?"

"Didn't you just make a big fuss when I asked about your card," Daniel asked skeptically.

"Psh, I just like messing with people. Besides I inherited most of my cards from my dad and he had quite a mouth on him. Anyone in this city that knows his name already knows what my cards do. There's no real harm in showing you," Stanford said while trying and failing to shrug his shoulders while still sprawled out on the ground.

In the next moment Stanford reached over and unclasped his right bracer before setting it down on the floor. On his right forearm was a tattoo of a young man lying beneath the stars and reaching up as if to try grabbing hold of them. 

The image quickly shifted into legible text, the same way Anton's had.

Touch the Horizon

Rare

Space

The wielder of this card can interact with objects at a distance. This card is limited only by the eyesight and physical strength of the wielder.

===

Gabriel pushed open the fancy door leading into Anton's office and found the city's leader sitting in his chair reading through a stack of papers. Which scattered across the floor as Gabriel slammed both his hands down on the desk, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Well, I was reading a report on the south side of the wall, but you're clearly not talking about that," Anton said, tossing the papers he'd been holding down onto his desk.

"Why did you assign a legendary to my team? What have we done to make you want us dead?"

Anton watched Gabriel for a few seconds before sighing, "He fit best in your team. He patched a weak point your group has and it's as good a place as any for him to grow stronger."

Gabriel leaned further across the desk, seemingly unintimidated by the demigod sitting across from him.

"You've put a bright red target on my team. He has no backing. He'll be torn apart by the other legends within the week."

"He's under my banner of protection," Anton said nonchalantly, "he'll be fine."

"You put too much faith in that lie detection card of yours, Anton. People can and will overlook their fear of you if it means they can get their hands on another legendary for their decks."

"Look, kid," Anton said sternly, "you're young so you wouldn't remember the things I've done, but the older generations do. I am not somebody to be trifled with, and I am not the sum of my cards. I'm aware of the weaknesses in my deck, as I'm sure most of the nobles are as well, but there's a difference between trying to get around my lie detection card and trying to get around me." 

A slight electric shock forced Gabriel to quickly pull his hands off of the table as Anton continued speaking, "Now, I know you're well acquainted with my staff, but you cannot use that sway to come into my office without an appointment. I'm a very busy man, and more importantly I could have had a cognitohazard in here. Is that understood?"

Gabriel glared at Anton, but reluctantly nodded.

"Good, and If I hear that Daniel died due to your negligence I will be holding you responsible. Now get out of my office." 

Gabriel took a moment to glare at Anton, clearly wanting to say more, but thought better of it. With a sigh he turned to make his way to the door, only to be interrupted once again by Anton. 

"Wait another second, there is actually one thing you should know about Daniel if you're going to be working with him."

"Besides him being a legendary? What pray tell would that would be?" Gabriel asked.

Anton grinned, "He has the same… special property as the red devil to the south."

All the color seemed to drain from Gabriel's face at that statement.

"Are you sure? He's the same as that thing?" Gabriel asked in exasperation. 

"From what I can tell, yes, he is, but he's untouched by the blood god's influence. He's a great opportunity for this city. See to it that he doesn't die for nothing. I'm trusting you, Gabriel. Make your father proud."