Anti-Mage

NOTE From Author: WARNING! This Chapter Contains Strong Implied Sexual Content and Trauma.

Too easy, Bill thought as he slit the little show-off's throat. Bill looked at his notification to see what his reward was. This little shit had to have a few levels; he should be worth a lot of XP.

You have attacked a Level 16 Specter with the skill Coup de Grace.

Target takes 100% damage to Health.

Bill looked at the notification and then checked his Status Screen. Nope, there was no death notification or Experience Points either. Maybe there was some loot? He reached down and touched the body to loot it.

Congratulations! You have looted a helpless target; 12,045 Copper, 120 Silver, and 1 Credit

As Bill looked at the notification, the body in front of him vanished. Well, it didn’t vanish exactly, it evaporated into particles that vanished, almost like the special effect from that movie with that villain that snapped his fingers to wipe out half of all life everywhere. While those thoughts crossed his mind, he heard a slight pop directly behind him and immediately turned to see the man he’d just killed looking at him with a vicious smile. Bill feinted to the left, fully intending to stab the man through the throat to kill him again when his mind went white.

***

Anton looked at the body of the dead man at his feet. The little shit that had sneered at him earlier when he met with Major Findal. What was his name? Shit, they’d never been introduced. Why would he attack him while he was sleeping? It wasn’t like there wasn’t a horde of monsters trying to kill them all. It wasn’t like they didn’t need to be working together. Instead, this asshole thought it was a good time to come kill him and steal his shit. Speaking of which, Anton reached down to the dead rogue or assassin and looted the corpse.

Congratulations! You have looted a level 16 Assassin; 15,045 Copper, 635 Silver, 123,564 Credits, a Ring of Protection +1, a Dagger of Venom, and a Vial of Tier 1 Poison.

Anton hadn’t even known he had treasure until he received the notification that it had been stolen. The fact that he could be looted while helpless also sucked a bit. He must have been auto looting his kills while he was a Specter. He hadn’t even seen the notifications. Right, he’d minimized them. Anton looted the assassin and now had more treasure than he had before and even a ring and a dagger.

Anton checked his Personal Storage and yes, everything had automatically been deposited. Anton’s attention was drawn from his notifications as the door to his room opened and Jay looked in. As a look of shock swept over Jay’s face he asked, “Anton, what happened?”

“He attacked me while I was sleeping?” Anton said.

Jay looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, “He’s an assassin, if he attacked you while you were sleeping, you should be dead,” Jay said matter-of-factly.

“Oh, he attacked me, and I died,” Anton said as he pulled up his combat log and shared the information concerning his attack including the “You have Died” message.

Jay read the combat log and then looked at Anton questioningly as he asked, “But you're alive?”

“Yep, sucks to be anyone that kills me, it doesn’t stick,” Anton said with a laugh.

“Why does it suck?”

“Obviously,” Anton said as he paused for dramatic effect, “Because my combat log will tell me who killed me, and If I don’t stay dead somebody else soon will be,” Anton said as he pointed at the corpse of the assassin on the ground. Then Anton looked thoughtful for a moment before he added, “Unless it’s an accident of course.”

“Stay right here, I need to get the Major.”

“Fine,” Anton said as Jay turned and left.

A few minutes later Jay led Major Findal into the room. The Major looked around the room, looked at Anton, and then said, “Show me your Combat Log.”

Anton pulled up the combat long. He edited out the activation of his Immortal ability. A moment after he shared the edited combat log Major Findal said, “No, the entire log.”

“If you want to see the entire log, I’ll show you, but only you,” Anton said.

“That’s fine. Jay, please wait outside and close the door on your way out,” Major Findal ordered.

Anton waited for Jay to leave the room and then pulled up the unedited Combat Log and showed it to the Major. The Major read the log and then asked, “Do you have any idea why he attacked you?”

“None. I’d never met the man before we talked in your office earlier,” Anton said.

“And you have an ability called Immortal?” Major Findal asked.

“Yep.”

“Like from the movie Highlander?” The Major asked.

“Not like Highlander. I’ve been at the center of a thermonuclear blast and returned from being vaporized so I doubt that cutting my head off is going to do anything except turn me into a Specter,” Anton said.

“Was that the skill you used to vanish and then kill all the demi-humans by the bridge?” Major Findal asked.

“The same,” Anton answered honestly.

“So, you’re immortal and you can go wherever you want like a ghost, and make attacks against anyone you want to?”

“That’s correct?” Anton said.

“So, you could have just left the room and left the body lying on the floor, or thrown the body into your spatial storage and disposed of it elsewhere and no one would have been the wiser?” Major Findal asked leadingly.

Anton looked thoughtful for a moment as he answered hesitantly, “Sure,” as he had no idea where the Major was going with this.

The Major smiled and reached out to pat Anton on the shoulder, “Relex son, The fact that you didn’t even think to use your abilities like that tells me all I need to know about you. Also, just between you and me, we had a few suspicious deaths before you arrived. Wouldn’t it be ironic if those mysterious deaths stopped happening now that Bill is dead?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it ironic, but I agree that it would be a good thing,” Anton said as he nodded his head.

Major Findal reached down and touched the corpse which disappeared into his storage. When Anton looked at him with obvious questions in his eyes he explained, “We’ve learned that when you loot a corpse it only transfers any money or SYSTEM credits that the person might have and maybe one or two more items. Some abilities and skills allow people to take all items from someone’s personal storage. I’m just going to take Bill down to the room where everyone is processed before their bodies are destroyed.”

“Okay, what’s the name of the skill?” Anton asked.

“The skill that allows people to search corpses is called Scavenge. Rogues and assassins have another skill that isn’t as thorough but allows them to use it stealth. As I understand it if they use the skill successfully, they can steal at least one item each time they try and as the skill levels they might be able to grab more,” The Major explained.

“And that skill is?”

“Snatch, we don’t have very many people with the former, but we were lucky enough to get someone that had the Scavenge skill which has allowed us to recover anything on anyone that dies.”

“Well, I was on my way to the SYSTEM Shop before I came across your group. I’ll look for those two skills when I get there,” Anton said.

“Are you going to try to go there now? The only one I know of is in Minneapolis and they’re not doing much better than we are, especially since they could probably establish a Safe Zone, but haven’t. A lot of the people that keep coming into this area seem to be fleeing from there because something else is going on too.”

“I wasn’t planning to head that way for a bit. I wanted to stick around here and help out,” Anton said.

“What would help us out is if someone could purchase the ability to turn this area into an official village and then somehow make this into a Safe Zone,” Major Findal said.

“Well, I wouldn’t know about that,” Anton said.

“Yeah, we need someone to get down to the SYSTEM Shop and then get back to us with the information so we can pool our resources and then purchase it. Once that’s done, we’ll be able to build up this area properly.”

Anton fidgeted for a second before he said, “I can probably get down to SYSTEM Shop and back in half an hour, maybe less. As a Specter I can move pretty fast.”

“Would you do that for us?”

“I needed to head down there anyway, so sure. Besides, once this is a safe area, I’ll be able to rest without having to worry about monsters and hopefully, anyone else attacking me,” Anton said.

“If you do this for us, I’ll make sure to put two guards on your room.

“All right, is there anything else you need?”

“If there’s a way to set up a SYSTEM Shop without meeting the population requirement, that would be nice too,” Major Findal said.

“Sounds good, I’m just going to take off then. I’ll come see you after I get the information,” Anton said as he activated Specter, brought up the arrow to the closest SYSTEM Shop, and sped off toward it.

Anton made it to the safe area in Minneapolis in just under 10 minutes. While his memory wasn’t the greatest, he knew that the distance between St. Cloud and Minneapolis St. Paul was just over an hour to drive so between 60 and 70 miles. As he flew toward the SYSTEM Shop one thing, he noticed was that there weren’t a lot of monsters near the middle point of the two big cities. The monsters seemed drawn either towards St. Cloud or Minneapolis.

Anton beelined for the SYSTEM Shop Node which ended up being in the center of the football field inside the U.S Bank Stadium on the 50-yard line. There was a line and someone taking names down. It also looked like there was a fee to use the node. Yeah, no.

Anton moved up next to the orb and appeared as he touched the node and accepted the prompt to enter as someone yelled something at him. Anton vanished before he even heard what was yelled at him. As he appeared next to a node in an entryway, he looked out into a room full of digital kiosks that showed alternating pictures of various items. As Anton took in the room a voice spoke from the air in front of him.

“Welcome to the SYSTEM Shop. All services offered are automated. You may speak or if you would prefer to use tactile input, please pick up one of the tablets on the counter. Only items that you purchase may leave the SYSTEM Shop with you.”

Anton spoke into the air, “I am looking for a list of items that will allow me to set up a village, Safe Zone, and also a SYSTEM Shop Node. Also, I need information on the skills Scavenge and Snatch.”

A moment later a holographic screen appeared that listed the items he’d mentioned.

- SYSTEM Shop node: 1 million beings living within a city or town: Free OR 1 million credits.

- Village Node, automatically upgrades based on Population: 10,000 Credits

- Safe Zone must be assigned to a Village, Town, or City Node: 1 million Credits per mile radius.

- Skill, Scavenge Common Level 1: 1,000 Credits

- Skill, Snatch, Common Level 1: 1,000 Credits

He couldn’t make the village a Safe Zone, or purchase a SYSTEM Shop, though the SYSTEM Shop would automatically be assigned if there were a million people in St. Cloud which he was pretty sure there weren’t right now. Anton Purchased both skills and equipped them which tied up two of his skill points. He could see how both skills could be useful in the future. If he could use Snatch in conjunction with Spectral Reach that could be a hell of a skill. Steal something from someone while he was in his Spectral Form. Yeah, that would be useful.

Anton stayed in the SYSTEM Shop for 10 minutes as he went over to the counter and picked up one of the tablets to see what was available. There was quite a bit actually. That’s not what this trip was for though, so he kept an eye on his Psychic Energy and when it was full he set the tablet back down on the counter and exited the SYSTEM Shop.

As he appeared there were four guards with their guns aimed at him. Before they could even think to pull the trigger, Anton activated Specter and headed back to St. Cloud. Of course, they pulled their triggers which did absolutely nothing to him. Anton zipped out of the stadium and headed back to St. Cloud. Just under 10 minutes later he appeared in the room with Major Findal and the other leaders of his group.

“Anton! Back Already?” Major Findal asked.

“Yep, Anton said as he pulled up the info the Major had requested and pushed it to a visual screen that everyone could see. It looks like I need at least 2,010,0000 credits to get what you need.”

“2 million credits! That’s preposterous…”, one of the plumper members of the leadership group started to say before Major Findal looked at him and he shut up. The Major then turned his gaze on Anton thoughtfully before he made a pushing motion and a prompt appeared in Anton’s vision.

Gregory Findal has initiated a Trade.

Gregory Findal would like to transfer 2,010,000 credits to you at no cost.

Do you Accept, Yes or No?

Anton chose “Accept” and looked at the major before he verified, “Village Node, Safe Zone, 1-mile radius and SYSTEM Shop Node?”

The Major nodded to Anton and said, “Now go.”

Before Anton could activate Specter again, the large old man started to bluster as his eyes turned to the Major accusingly, “Where did our funds go? My account balance says that the coffers of this village have just lost….”

Anton activated Specter and left the idiot official and the Major to their business as he headed back toward Minneapolis. While he moved along, he noticed that he was moving faster and checked his notifications and found that the two hours of travel as a Specter had increased his skill level to Scarce Level 4. If this kept up, he’d be Level 6, or close to it by the time he made it back.

The trip was uneventful as he came into the Stadium and noticed that there were now four people standing close to the SYSTEM Shop node. It would be difficult to touch it. This reaction by the people of Minneapolis made Anton hesitate so he flew around the stadium and checked all the rooms and hidey-holes in and around the stadium. What he found was…Yeah, he would need to come back here. But first. He had a new skill and since these four assholes seemed to think they could block his access; he’d found some volunteers.

Anton activated Spectral Reach and touched one of the guards from behind then activated the skill Snatch. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as an inventory of items appeared and a notification appeared at the bottom of the list.

At your current skill level, you may choose 1 item or 1 stack of identical items that weigh no more than a pound. Alternatively, you can choose 1 coin type and will receive up to 100 coins of that type +10 coins per skill level. If credits are chosen a contest of wills will determine what percentage of credits you will receive from the target. The minimum amount that will be transferred is 100 credits + 10 credits per skill level or all credits if the target has less than this minimum and you win the contest of wills.

Anton quickly checked the target's coin levels and noted that the man didn’t have more than 10 coins of any type and only 15 credits. He also checked his status log and noted that the combined use of both Spectral Reach and Snatch had cost him 1 Psychic Energy and 50 Stamina to use. Anton brought his attention back to his target's inventory and noticed that he had a couple of weapons, including grenades.

Anton took one smoke grenade and retracted his hand. As soon as he did, time resumed. The guard looked around to see if someone was touching him but turned back around when he saw no one touching him. It was so cool to be able to stand in a spot with others intersecting his body. It was weird but cool. This skill was awesome!

Anton moved to one side of the stadium where very few people were gathered. He would need to return and take over the city to right the wrongs the current leaders were perpetrating but for now, all he needed to do was distract the guards, get to the SYSTEM Shop Node, and make a few purchases, which was what he was going to do. Besides, right now he didn’t know who the bastards were and who the innocents were, well except for the sick pervert up in the VIP box. Still, the girls that were up there seemed to be safe enough so he’d continue with his mission and then come back and see what he could do to free them.

Anton brought his attention to the grenade, activated it, and used Spectral Reach to push the grenade into the Material Plane near one of the entrances at field level. before he moved back to the SYSTEM Shop Node. A couple of seconds later the grenade went off and everyone reacted, including the four guards on the node. As others moved to investigate the four near the node pivoted and an opening in their defense appeared. Anton appeared in that opening out of their lines of sight, touched the node, and disappeared into the SYSTEM Shop.

He quickly purchased the items he’d been sent for and exited the shop before he activated Specter and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Luckily, everyone was still investigating where the smoke grenade had exploded. As far as he could tell no one had noticed his two appearances.

Anton headed back to St. Cloud and made it in record time. He also leveled his Specter skill up to level 6. When he appeared before Major Findal he initiated a transfer to give all three purchased items to the Major. The Major accepted as he said, “Thank you, Anton. Less than an hour and we have a chance. Let me go get this set up,” The Major said as he left his office. It was then that Anton noticed that the larger man was nowhere to be seen. Not that he cared, but Anton made his way around the building until he found the large man in the kitchen with an Apron on. So, the Major had put him to work cooking. That was a lot better than what he’d seen down at the stadium.

A moment later he received a few Notifications.

The Village of St. Cloud has been established. St. Cloud is an established Safe Zone with a radius of 1 mile. Monsters in this Safe Zone or that enter this Safe Zone will be teleported to a random location 25 miles away.

Safe Zone Population of non-monsters: 263,124

The Village of St. Cloud has been upgraded to the Town of St. Cloud, Population 236,124

The Town of St. Cloud has established a SYSTEM Shop Node

That worked. If he could get back to Minneapolis and somehow get enough credits, he could set up a Safe Zone there and…Yeah, Anton needed to go back to Minneapolis. Anton activated Specter and floated up through the ceiling while he turned to look south. As he did so he noticed that the horde that everyone had been fighting was gone. He continued south until he came to the point where the monsters entering the Safe Zone were disappearing. He then followed that line around the circumference of the Safe Zone until he returned to the starting point and then made his way back to Major Findal’s office. The Major wasn’t there so he floated around until he found the hidden room he’d placed the Village Node in and then the room next to the cafeteria he’d set up where people were already lined up to get a turn to visit the SYSTEM Shop. When he couldn’t find the Major, he realized that the Major must be in the SYSTEM Shop.

Fair enough, Anton moved to the bank vault that he’d used when he first arrived in St. Cloud which was now inside the Safe Zone and rested up for a half hour to get all of his energy back. While he had 2,620 Stamina because of his high Endurance, his Psychic Energy was still only 207. Each time he activated Specter cost him 10 points and each minute after that he kept it active cost him another point. The trips to and from Minneapolis, while not devastating, still cost him 20 Psychic Energy each way. The second trip had only been 19 Psychic Energy. With his scouting around and use of Spectral Reach, he’d spent 85 points in the last hour. Since he was only regenerating 3 points of Psychic Energy every minute, he had to rest for almost a half hour before he headed back down. As he rested in the vault, he pulled out the dagger and the vial of poison and looked them over.

Once he was fully rested Anton made his way back to Minneapolis toward the VIP rooms in the Stadium. One of the rooms had been turned into a human female kennel full of naked young women who’d been shackled and placed in large dog cages. No one had been in the room the first time he passed through. This time he wasn’t so lucky. As he arrived, he ghosted through the walls to find a very perverted man getting ready to do very perverted things to very unwilling women. He had her bound so that everyone down below could see her nakedness while he violated her. He was even going so far as to rouse the crowd in the stadium below while the naked woman remained tied up with tears streaming down her eyes. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s or 30s had the City Node continued to instigate the crowd and every once in a while, slapped the girl's ass which made the people down below go wild. Anton wasn’t normally sadistic but sometimes, what people did to other people made him so angry…Yeah, this little prick would be a perfect test subject for how to use Spectral Reach against someone. That he might get to relieve some pent-up aggression in the process, was just a bonus.

Anton pulled out the knife he looted from Bill, took the vial of poison, and dribbled a drop on the blade which seemed to spread out and coat the blade without needing any assistance. He’d been worried that he might not be able to interact with his objects normally but there was no issue. Also, he made sure to pull out the knife where the little shit could have seen him easily, in case interacting with normal objects while in his Specter Form allowed others to see what he was holding.

Anton watched his eyes carefully and nope; it didn’t seem like anything on his side of the dimensional divide was visible to those in the Material Plane. He’d even pulled out a coin and dropped it to see if it reappeared back in the Material Plane. It had just sat there. So either nothing could cross the dimensional barrier without willful intent, or it took a little while for the dimension to eject other objects. In either case that worked for Anton.

Anton put the poison back in his storage and moved up behind the man who had stepped up and was making a show of pulling out his, yeah it was time to end this. As he was about to violate the girl, Anton reached out with both of his hands and activated Spectral Reach.

A long time ago he’d come across a book on Ninjitsu and assassination methods. One type of attack had the attacker pull the target's head to the side and bring a blade down along the neck into the chest cavity through the opening at the top of the rib cage to pierce the Heart from above. The reason for this was so that there was no chance of the ribcage blocking the strike. Normally such a blow required a longer blade, which Anton didn’t have. But with the blade poisoned it should be good enough to get the job done.

As the man was about to thrust, Anton Struck. With his left hand, he pulled the man’s head to the side. Even as the man let go of the woman and tried to dodge out of the way Anton was able to bring the blade down and connect as the dagger pierced deeply into his body. As the attack ended, both of his hands phased out, which included the dagger. A spurt of blood shot out of his neck into the ceiling as the man turned to face his assailant whom he couldn’t see.

Anton, still in his Specter Form stepped through the man and attacked with the dagger into his back before his hand and dagger phased out of existence. Again, the man tried to turn and attack where his attacker should be, but there was no one there. The man tried to call for help, but the first attack Anton had done had punched his esophagus and lung. While he was holding on, Anton watched as the man was finding it harder and harder to move as he tried to attack Anton as he systematically decimated the evil piece of shit in front of him. After the 10th attack, the man fell to the ground as blood poured from the multiple wounds in his body.

Anton stood over the body in his Specter Form as he waited for the man to die. He also looked out of the window at the crowd below who looked on stunned. They were so stunned that none of them had moved yet. Anton was also waiting for the notification because there was no way that he would step out and give the man a chance to kill him.

Anton put the poisoned knife back in his inventory and looked over his Combat Log. Each attack had been considered a critical hit and did a total of 48 points of damage. The poison had only added to the first three strikes and had only done 4 points of damage each combat round for 6 rounds. That had done a total of 72 points of damage over the six combat rounds he’d attacked the man. That plus his 10 attacks had done 552. In addition, the first attack had left a bleeding wound that had been doing 10 points of damage per combat round, so 652 total points of damage after 10 rounds. Seven seconds into the 11th combat round Anton received multiple notifications.

Congratulations! You have killed a Level 70 City Lord

You have earned 7,000 XP. XP to next level, 34,557

As a Specter, you automatically loot your opponent upon their Death.

You have found 653 Copper, 456 Silver, 6,968,756 Credits, 151 Gold, and 26 Platinum

The following has been deposited to your personal storage.

Magical Long Sword

Magical Ring

You have killed the City Lord of the City of Minneapolis; would you like to claim this city as your own? If you do not claim the city the City Node will revert to neutral and anyone wishing to claim the city must touch the City Node and defend their claim for one full hour.

Would you like to claim the City of Minneapolis, Yes, or No?

Anton chose yes then moved over to the city node, deactivated Specter, and touched the City Node with the intent to move it. A new notification appeared.

WARNING! It appears that you are trying to move the City Node. Only the owner of the City may move a City Node. As the owner of this City Node, you may move this City Node. To Move the City Node, go to the location you wish to move it to, open your City Tab, and it will reappear there. Note, that a City node area of coverage will always be centered on the initial placement of the City Node. The City Node can be moved to any location within the city's boundaries.

Anton left the woman where she was, she’d be safe enough there until he returned. He touched the man’s body and placed it in his personal storage. Anton activated Specter and flashed through the stadium until he found an underground area that had been sealed off from the rest of the complex. He reappeared in the crawl space, opened his City Tab, and moved the City Node to this new location.

He was burning through Psychic Energy and had spent 42 of his 207 points. He should have enough to do the last two things he needed to. Anton Activated Specter and moved back to the stadium where he reappeared and touched the SYSTEM Shop Node. Once inside he picked up the tablet and spent 5 million credits to purchase the 5-mile radius Safe Zone option for a City Node.

Next, he asked, “SYSTEM, how do I secure my treasure from being looted off my body when the Ability Immortal activates?”

“The SYSTEM Shop provides banking services which can store all monetary donations as well as items for a small fee. SYSTEM Storage Locations are 10,000 Credits per 10 cubic feet of storage each year. Money is stored for free and will earn 2.5% interest per full year it remains invested into the bank. The SYSTEM Bank does not compound interest daily. There is one payment every 336 Earth days from the point of investment.”

That was perfect. Anton set up one 10-foot cube and paid the 120,000 credits up front and placed everything else in the SYSTEM Bank. All of his items went into the SYSTEM Bank Storage Location which was a lot like a Safety Deposit Box. Next, he put all of his money into the Bank. It might or might not be in the bank for a year but there was no way he was going to live through this next part so why chance losing any of the treasure he’d just acquired? Besides, he wanted to see if he lost levels if he died. If he did, he would have to come up with a different plan.

When he was done, the Body of the prick, the magical sword, the magical ring, the Dagger of Venom, and poison were all in the SYSTEM Bank Storage. The Bank had 15,698 Copper, 1,263 Silver, 1,972,320 Credits, and 26 Platinum. Not too bad a hall for killing a City Lord.

Anton exited the SYSTEM Shop and activated Specter. He’d be back in a moment but first, he needed to visit the City Node one more time. He ghosted to the node, materialized, and reached out to touch it. Once he was connected, he went through the various functions and found that he could make an Exceptions List to the Safe Zone. That would work out quite well. Anton added the Safe Zone to the City Node. He quickly read over the messages and then added his name to the exceptions list. Now, he could attack anyone within the Safe Zone and if they counter-attacked him they would be teleported to a random location 25 miles outside of the Safe Zone and would not be able to re-enter it for at least 24 hours. Anton saw that he could adjust that setting but left it alone for now. If someone accidentally attacked someone else, they shouldn’t be permanently banned from the Safe Zone.

Anton Activated Specter and ghosted through the Stadium to just outside the door to the VIP room the women were trapped in. As he had thought, the people from the ground level were just making it to the doors. This was going to be fun. Anton deactivated Specter and appeared right next to a man who was reaching for the door.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Anton said.

“The man had an Uzi in his right hand and without thinking brought it up and pulled the trigger at point-blank range. Anton didn’t even try to dodge as 6 bullets hit him and his attacker disappeared.

The man behind the guy with the Uzi wasn’t that smart and also shot and hit Anton with his handgun before he disappeared.

The men behind the 2nd person hesitated as Anton said, “What did you idiots not understand about the phrase Safe Zone?”

“If we kill him…” One of the two men started to say before Anton’s Mind Bolt caused his brain to explode out of his eyes, ears, and nose. The other man raised his gun, fired, and disappeared as well.

He hadn’t taken enough damage to kill him and 14 seconds later he was fully healed and all the bullets that hadn’t passed right through him had been pushed out of his body. Even his default clothes were repaired. Man, he loved that ability. Anton left the single dead body in the hallway for now and activated Specter. He moved into the VIP lounge and rematerialized. He turned to check the door to verify that it was still locked and then went to the Bathroom and grabbed a robe as he walked back over to the bound woman and covered her body with the robe. He left her tied up as he moved so that he was in front of her face.

Anton watched as her eyes tracked him, but he could tell from the look in her eyes that she didn’t see Anton, she was just looking for a way to escape. That was going to make this next part a bit tricky.

“Hello, my name is Anton. You’re still tied up because this is a Safe Zone, and I don’t want you to disappear if you try to attack me if I free you. Blink once slowly when you’ve calmed down and have control of yourself.”

The woman’s eyes darted around while Anton waited patiently for her to calm down. Well calm down was probably asking a lot. Anton needed her to get control of her fight-or-flight response. Amazingly, only after a few moments she looked back at Anton who was still waiting and blinked once slowly.

“Good, now I’m going to remove the ball gag, while I explain what happened, and what I’m going to do,” Anton said as he reached to undo the clasp that was holding the ball gag wedged in her mouth, “First, I’m going to get this Ball Gag out of your mouth so you can ask questions, please don’t scream at me. Once that’s done, I’m going to go grab that knife over there on the counter and I’m going to come back and cut the bindings on your arms. Then I’m going to leave the knife on the table for you so you can free yourself. After you’re free, you are going to go into the other room and free the other women and let them know that I will be waiting for all of you in the room with all of the weapons.

Once there we’re going to get all of you equipped with weapons and add all of you to the exception list for the Safe Zone while you’re in this VIP lounge. What that means is that you will be able to attack anyone and not be flung from the Safe Zone while you’re in here with me. This will be true only while you are in this VIP Area. Now, do you have any questions?” Anton asked as the ball gag was rocked free from her mouth.

The woman worked her jaw a little and then hoarsely asked, “What’s to keep us from killing you when I get all the women free and have weapons?”

“Nothing. I’m going to free you and your fellow women and give you weapons so you can take back some of the power that was taken from you. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work together once you're free. But this whole city is a Safe Zone and once you all have calmed down and feel safe, you’ll be under the same rules as everyone else. But while we’re getting to know each other, each of you will be free to defend yourself if attacked. Now I’m going to cut your bindings and leave the knife so you can free yourself. If you need help, please ask but otherwise, I’m going to go into the next room and leave the door open and wait for you and your friends. Just a friendly reminder, if you’re going to try to kill me, at least wait until you’re all on the exception list or you’re going to appear out in a monster-infested area. Also, there are more robes and towels in the bathroom, I don’t know where they put your clothes,” Anton said as he freed her arms from their bindings and then put the knife where she could reach it easily.

Anton stepped back and walked to the other room where he sat in a chair that faced the door and waited. A moment later he heard the woman moving around in the other room and then heard the door to the room with the kennels in it open and close.

Anton was a big believer in the adage ‘Trust but Verify.’ Anton activated Specter, ghosted through the wall to make sure she was freeing the women, and then returned to his set and sat down to let his Psychic Energy replenish. There were 12 women in the room plus the girl he freed, Thirteen in total. It would be a little while before they were ready to come out and get the weapons that were in the room he was in. All there was to do now was wait.