Fighting Madness was a tricky thing. It was like having a stablemaster catch fish with his bare hand. It wasn’t just slippery, it was annoying, difficult to navigate. And then there were the rules. The rules for raising horses did not apply in any way to catching fish.

  In the same way, the rules for fighting a normal person did not apply to Madness.

  Pain held his hand out, stalling an approaching Inevitability. With his Oath skill [Relief From Pain] in effect, no one around him would be able to fight at their optimum capability. There was a higher chance of success if he fought alone.

  The thought almost made him scoff. A higher chance of success was a nice way of saying a lower chance of defeat.

  “I’ve got this,” he said quickly, speaking to Inevitability but making sure he was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Just keep the fool alive and make sure I don’t die.”

  As long as Aurora didn’t step in, Pain was sure the casualties would remain at the minimum. Grace would’ve been a counter point if she could push beyond the pain, but Madness was one of only two beings they had seen that cared nothing for the Oath.

  Madness stomped forward, closing the distance between him and Pain. He was a moving mountain by all standards.

  With [Despair in Pain] tapping energy from a dying Desolation, Pain knew he had a chance. Raising his hands, he prepared to fight.

  Madness’ approach morphed from a daunting walk to a sudden dash.

  No, you don’t. Pain raised his leg and brough it down hard on the ground.

  [You have used skill Path of Nature]

  The ground between him and Madness shot up. It rose in jagged spikes, aimed for Madness’ chest. Pain did not expect it to work and wasn’t surprised when Madness barreled right through it, shattering the entire stalagmite on impact.

  Pain frowned, knowing Madness class was not a strength class. He must’ve stolen the skill from someone in the room. Aurora was Pain’s best guess.

  [Path of Nature] allowed him to manipulate anything non-living that he came in contact with. Once upon a time, he couldn’t use his legs. Now, however, the skill had been upgraded to the point that as long as the obstacles between him and his point of contact weren’t much, he could move the floor even with shoes on.

  With ten uses before the skill went into cool down, Pain stepped to the side and another stalagmite shot out from where he’d been standing. Madness’ eyes never moved from Pain as he closed the distance.

  Madness stamped his foot, pushing himself to the side. At first, Pain thought he was evading only for a stalagmite to shoot out from the ground, crashing with the one he had summoned.

  That right there was the reason all the classes hated those who carried the [Faker] class. Having to switch between so many different class skills, it was no wonder the man was mad.

  But Pain wasn’t done. Madness was almost on him when he activated the next skill and charged into the Oath.

  [You have used skill Winds of Winter]

  The temperature dipped in front of Pain as he channeled the skill in Madness’ direction. The air grew cold, then visible, then turned bluish. Madness charged into it, undaunted. But being undaunted did not make a person invincible.

  Frost grew around Madness’ neck, slowly solidifying into a thick layer of ice. Then it appeared around his arm, slowing him down.

  Come on, big guy, Pain begged. Stop or go down.

  He was already channeling another skill as a block of ice solidified around one of Madness’ feet, pinning it to the ground.

  [You have used skill A Taste of Storm]

  Being restricted indoors, Pain could not bring the full weight of the skill to bear since it would normally call down lightning from the sky. But it wasn’t completely limited. Without an accessible sky, it called lightning from him, draining more mana than it normally would.

  And Pain had mana to spare.

  Hands held out in front of him, a streak of lightning leapt through the air. It cracked into Madness like a terrible whip and the Oath let out an uncomfortable groan.

  Slow and steady, Pain thought as he channeled more mana into the skill to keep it going. Electrocution was a painful thing to experience.

  He spared the briefest moment to keep an eye on Aurora and found Grace standing in front of her. Whatever conversation they were having was lost to him. With one eye on Grace, Aurora kept a piece of her attention on Madness. Despite what was going on, she didn’t look bothered.

  As he returned his attention to Madness’ he caught a glimpse of Life holding out his staff in front of Fear as if stopping her from doing something.

  Pain wasn’t sure what that was about, but it was not a bad decision the old Oath had made.

  Right now, Pain was playing damage control. He was not trying to win a fight against Madness, he was trying to calm the Oath down. Which was a funny thing to say since the Oath didn’t even look angry.

  The sound of cracking ice did not surprise Pain as it filled the air. A preliminary glance showed him that the slowly growing patches of ice that had been trying to keep Madness in place were cracking. The one pinning him to the ground, however, stood strong.

  Time for the big guns, Pain thought.

  [You have used skill Dual Casting]

  …

  [You have used skill Winds of Winter]

  Unlike simple active skills, there were active skills that were termed channeled skills. They required a steady channeling of mana to keep alive. Those who had such skills could not use it alongside another channeling skill. But Pain wasn’t most people.

  [Dual Casting] was one of a few skills that he had that allowed him to use multiple channeled skills. Then, with [Winds of Winter], he resolidified the cracking ice.

  He watched as the patches of ice regained their structure, hardening once more. Come on, big guy. Make this easy.

  Pain felt as if he was corralling a mad dog. Then again, the person in front of him was mad.

  For the first time since he’d gotten his attention, Madness looked at something else. He looked down at the block of ice encasing his leg then opened his mouth.

  A blast of liquid fire spilled from his open mouth. It engulfed the block of ice like molten lava. It looked like an upgraded version of the skill Desolation had used on Aurora.

  How the hell? Pain thought as he channeled more mana into [Winds of Winter].

  The classes of the Oaths were no secret to the Oaths. Apart from the new Oaths, there was no one present that didn’t know that Madness owned the [Faker] class. And if there was one thing that people knew about the [Faker] class, it was that they didn’t just pull out skills they’d seen once upon a time and use. They had to acquire the skill within a time period of witnessing the skill in whatever way they were required to in order to imitate it.

  Pain had no idea where Madness had gotten the skill that had made him strong enough to tank a blow from the stalagmite Pain had all but thrown at him, but if he was using a skill that Desolation had used in the beginning of his fight against Aurora, then it left Pain with only one explanation.

  He’s been preparing for a fight since the beginning.

  The next important question was if the fight Pain was currently having was premeditated by Madness or just an unlucky coincidence as most things with Madness tended to be.

  As Madness pulled his leg forward, shattering the ice that had held him in place, Pain realized that he didn’t know which was more terrifying: Madness acting on impulse or Madness acting on a premeditated plan.

  Leg free and at his disposal, Madness ignored the other patches of ice drowning him in cold and reducing his movement. Instead, he turned his attention on Pain and opened his mouth once more.

  Like hell you will, Pain swore, activating more skills.

  [You have used skill Triple Cast]

  …

  [You have used class skill Path of Nature]

  He felt the ground beneath his feet and he called it up. Instead of a stalagmite, a wall erupted in front of him, standing between him and Madness’ fire. But the fire never came. Instead, something heavy struck the wall once. The skill shattered under the force of the blow.

  It revealed Madness barreling forward again.

  With no more space to run, Pain knew he was left with only one course of action. Fight.

  He met Madness head on. The massive Oath threw a single forward jab and Pain weaved under it. Coming up on Madness’ side, he went for a body blow, but not on his own.

  As his fist struck upwards, compensating for the height difference, a blunt stalagmite erupted from the ground. At a diagonal angle, the stalagmite was the fist that would shake Madness’ liver.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  A stalagmite erupted between it and Madness and the skills cancelled each other out. Pain hated having his skill used against him. Worse, he hated that he was struggling against Madness while Madness was under the weight of his Oath skill [Relief From Pain].

  It made him feel weak. He knew he was the weaker of the both of them, but it was one thing to know something and another thing to feel it.

  Madness turned and struck downwards. Pain barely avoided the blow. However, the wind of the strike was a clear indication of the damage that would have come from the attack as it slapped across Pain’s face.

  “Can’t we just calm down, Madness?” Pain asked, knowing for a fact that such a thing was not about to happen.

  But it was Madness. You never knew what would work.

  Madness ignored his question and threw another simple jab at him. Pain dodged it only for Madness to throw another, then another. Then four jabs came in quick succession. They came like a combo move.

  Pain weaved out of the way of the first one, ignoring the breeze that touched his face. He slapped the second one aside and did the same for the third. Now he gave Madness his entire attention. He knew combo moves. The way Madness was moving, something different would come after the fourth blow.

  Blocking the fourth blow, he braced himself for a counterattack. When the switch up came, he was ready.

  Madness turned into a spinning blow. Pain resolved to take the blow with a raised arm, capturing the Oath’s thrown hand and throwing him off balance.

  He raised his arm to take the strike, but it never came. Madness did not go for a spinning blow.

  The giant of an Oath hadn’t been going for a combo technique. If he actually had been, he had to have changed his mind at the last moment because what he did was in no way a technique.

  Madness wasn’t going for a spinning blow. He just turned his back and Pain’s mouth dropped in confusion as the monster of a man fell on him.

  Pain, not strong enough to hold up the weight of Madness’ body, went crashing down with the Oath. A crack of pain filled his head as it struck against the edge of the table as they went down.

  Pain felt himself grow stronger, the pain adding to his stats. When they hit the ground, Madness was still on top of him. So, he pushed with all his might.

  The weight disappeared suddenly as Madness simply rolled off him. Pain’s mind was scrambling now. What would happen next? What was the next attack?

  It came out of nowhere.

  As Madness rolled off him, he swung his hand with the momentum of his roll and slapped Pain across the face. The blow wasn’t painful, only very confusing.

  Pain refused to allow it to distract him. Scrambling off the floor, he called up another skill a little too late. Before it activated, Madness barreled him into the edge of the table. As sturdy as the thing was, Pain felt the pain of having his spine bash against the edge of a table.

  Gritting his teeth, he swallowed the pain, allowed it fuel him. With [Despair in Pain] active, pain was power. Even with all his pain spread all over the room to keep Madness weakened, he still had enough pain from Desolation to keep him strong and fast.

  Sadly, the pain was beginning to seem insufficient.

  Madness held Pain down on the table with a hand on his chest and cocked a fist back. Pain’s head darted to the side as Madness brought the fist down only for Madness to stop as if reconsidering the action.

  You’ve got to be kiddi—

  The blow landed, smashing into Pain’s nose.

  Pain had heard tales of Madness’ infamous strikes but had never gotten the displeasure of experiencing it. Now that he had, the Oath’s punch wasn’t as powerful as he’d expected. Certainly not enough to give someone like Inevitability a concussion.

  But while the pain would do good things for him, an increase in stats did not mean that there would be no damage. He was the Oath of Pain not Damage. So, when Madness’ second blow dropped, Pain moved his head to dodge it.

  Pain’s hand snapped upwards. Grabbing Madness by the arm, he tried to move him aside. For all his increased stats, Madness didn’t budge. A third blow connected with the table. The force of it reverberated through the table sending a shock through Pain’s head.

  Why did that seem stronger?

  Madness struck again and Pain was too late to move his head. Again, Madness’ fist hit the table.

  A frown line creased Pain’s brow. How had the man missed?

  Madness struck once more, slamming his fist into the table once more.

  You’re worrying about the wrong—

  Pain’s thoughts ceased in his head as he heard a crack. Then he felt the hairline fractures crawl through the table, spreading.

  Pain paled. His struggles became frantic. This was the infamous strike of the Oath of Madness. Something told him that he did not, for any reason, want to experience it.

  Madness’ hand that pinned him down by the chest moved up and grabbed him by the jaw. Pain struggled against him, fighting as Madness pulled his head, dragging his face back to the same spot.

  Pain knew in the depth of his soul that he did not want to be there. Whatever Madness was about to do to him, he did not want a part of it.

  Unfortunately, Madness’ hold was like the weight of the world. Pain could do nothing against it.

  I guess I don’t have a choice, Pain thought in a last ditch effort as Madness’ fist came down.

  He deactivated [Relief From Pain].

  All the pain he’d released into the world came back to him. Trapped inside of him, he felt it all. The lung that was stuck in an eternal state of rotting. The pain of Desolation’s nose trying and struggling to grasp at the air around him. The place he’d been stabbed in his first fight. The headache of years of accumulated concussions.

  All of it fueled him and his stats rose as [Despair in Pain] gave him strength. The pain fueled him like a thousand suns.

  Pain was alive, ripe with power.

  It was a lot. The power of a thousand suns. He could burn down two worlds and still have more to burn.

  A sound ripped from his throat. It was guttural and powerful. A roar that shook the world. Eyes bright with power, he charged forward, ripping Madness’ hand from his face.

  Then pain flared in his face. The fuel of a thousand suns was multiplied by a thousand more suns. Madness' fist slammed into his face with the weight of two worlds and Pain's head went straight through the table.

  Pain’s world went white. He saw nothing, felt nothing. Pain was all there was. And it fueled him to bursting. But there was also damage. He knew it as surely as he knew he was an Oath fighting against a madman.

  He caught a whisp of light, of reality. Madness’ face came into view. He had another fist cocked back.

  All it would do was fuel Pain’s stats some more. But even in his ecstasy of power, Pain knew it would bring damage. He already couldn’t feel his face.

  “I WILL NOT DIE TODAY!” he roared into the world, declaring his very existence, spitting in the face of death as blood and spittle dripped from his face. “I AM PAIN!”

  In the corner of the room, he watched Life wince. Fear looked away. Grace abandoned whatever conversation she was having with Aurora and raised her hands in his and Madness’ direction, most likely attempting to use a skill. Inevitability’s eyes widened in horror.

  Pain saw all these in the blink of an eye.

  Madness’ fist came down.

  Pain’s interface beat came alive before the fist completed its path to his face.

  [You have used Oath skill Pain of the World]

  He grabbed Madness by the arm and channeled the entirety of the skill into him.

  Pain would’ve smiled if he could, but he didn’t have the awareness of his face or even most of his body to do much else.

  A grunt slipped from Madness’ lips, and Pain felt the Oath tremble in his hands.

  There was a saying amongst Oaths. World skills were reserved for classes. The world did not grant skills to Oaths, only to the Gifted that had classes. The world was kind to the Gifted, but the Oaths were kind to the world.

  It had been that way since Callum had become Pain. All Oaths knew this. Callum knew this…

  Until the world had chosen to be kind to an Oath--to be kind to him.

  If Madness remembered the end of this fight, then he would know that there now existed an Oath that was unique. An Oath that the world had deemed worthy of blessing. As all other Oaths, Madness’ interface would inform him that an Oath skill had been used on him.

  Then Pain’s secret would no longer be a secret.

  But if this was the way his secret would come to light, he was happy with it.

  He would stand as the only Oath of this generation to ever defeat the Oath of Madness.

  It was a good way to go out.

  It was a good way to—

  [Warning!]

  [The Oath of Madness has used an Oath skill on you.]

  [You have been afflicted with an Oath skill]

  ..

  [You have been afflicted with Oath skill World of Madness]

  Pain didn't have enough time to truly register what he was seeing before everything went white.

  …

  The entire room went deathly silent. Only Desolation’s weak struggles to breath touched the silence as Madness’ second blow refused to land.

  The grunt he had let out a moment earlier, accompanied by the momentary full body shudder had left them all at a loss for words. So, Madness sat there, straddling Pain amidst a pile of broken table glass that was supposed to be too sturdy to break.

  Inevitability would have to make an apology to [Unbound]. He was the real owner of the table, commissioned from an S-rank [Crafter].

  When the silence seemed to stretch on for so long, Aurora peeked to the side.

  “Babe,” she said in a quiet voice. “You good?”

  Only then did something else happen. Madness gave a single nod. Then he got up. Reaching down, he grabbed Pain by his chest, grabbing a handful of his shirt, and turned to face them.

  Grace gasped at the sight.

  Madness bled from his eyes and nose. Blood trickled from his ears, too. Bloodshot eyes looked at Aurora and a silent communication seemed to pass between them a moment before blood trickled from them like tears.

  Madness nodded, and she nodded back.

  Ignorant of the others in the room, Madness walked with Pain hanging from his hold, back bent backwards. With gentle steps, he came to a stop in front of Life and dropped Pain on the table.

  This was the fight that had been inevitable, Inevitability thought. This was the fight he’d felt coming.

  Madness released Pain, abandoning him along with his broken and battered face that was now completely unidentifiable, and looked at Life.

  He pointed at the unconscious Oath and said one word.

  “Heal.”

  Life inched closer cautiously. He dropped his staff on the table and placed a hand on Pain’s face.

  How Pain was still alive was a mystery to Inevitability. The blow he’d taken from Madness that had given him a concussion had only clipped his jaw and it was after the fourth time it clipped his jaw. It was accumulated damage from strikes that had only barely clipped his jaw.

  Pain had taken two full fists to the face.

  How?

  Life looked down at Pain as the air around him suddenly turned a deep forest green. The green grew deeper with every passing second. After half a minute, he looked up at Madness, craned his neck back to meet his eyes.

  “This will take a while,” he said, and Madness nodded. Cautiously, Life added: “Do you need any attention?”

  Madness gave him no answer. Instead, he walked over to his game console, stepped over the table and took his seat. Picking up the console, he went back to playing his video game. The blood leaking from his eyes, ears, and nostrils did not stop trickling out.

  Inevitability looked around, unable to deny his own confusion. Things had gotten very volatile. Two Oaths had almost died today.

  Running his hand down his face, he sighed in sudden exhaustion. “Why don’t we just adj—”

  “No.” Aurora’s words were clear and concise.

  Turning away from Grace, she climbed over her side of the table and took her seat beside her husband.

  No Oath had died, but in this moment, Inevitability knew one thing. The dynamics of the Oaths had changed. Any Oath who didn’t have a brain or even half a brain would stop seeing Madness as a problem. With what had just happened, fools would now see the Lockwoods as a threat.

  Inevitability pitied those fools.

  “We have overstayed our welcome,” Aurora said, seated comfortably next to Madness. “I will say only one thing. Conversations with the [August Intruder] will happen only through us. This is non-negotiable.”

  Inevitability saw it in her eyes. There would be no negotiating. No one would talk her out of this decision. She had just declared a monopoly on the [August Intruder] thereby solidifying her power amongst the Oaths even though she was no longer one.

  The Oaths present and conscious either accepted it or risked the possibility of death.

  And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

  Grace sighed in defeat but returned to her seat without a word. Everyone else did. Only Life remained standing over Pain as he healed him.

  Inevitability took his seat. “We have no objection to that.”

  “Good,” Aurora said, speaking for her and her husband. “Now,” her eyes settled on Shield, “let us talk about the real reason I am here.”

  “While we do that,” Inevitability gestured to Life, “can you find the time to heal Desolation.”

  Life looked from him to Madness, then down to Pain.

  A single word filled the air.

  “No.”

  It came with a finality from a man playing a video game.

  “But—” Inevitability’s words died in his throat as Madness raised his head to look at him.

  “He lives or dies,” Madness said very clearly, mincing no words, “by his own will.”

  Inevitability had no argument to offer. In this moment, he only hoped that Madness’ interests in the activities of the Oaths would go back to what it always was: disinterest. He also hoped that his wife would also return to her disregard for them.

  If not, the Oaths were about to experience the dawn of a new era, a new reign.

  The reign of the Lockwoods.

  And it was all their fault.

  As negotiations—because that was what it was—on Shield’s apology and resolution for what she had done as regards their son being trapped in the portal commenced, Inevitability had only one thought.

  What have we done?