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But this also gave them an opportunity to steer the direction of the fight. Kerikos could sense potential allies in various directions. Vaguely familiar soul signatures. Moving with quickness and certitude. Castle guards, most likely.

They just had to make sure that those guards didn’t confuse them with the attackers. Even with reapers for observational support, friendly fire was still undoubtedly a threat in the midst of all this chaos.

And the best way for Vito to distinguish himself as an immediate ally was to spare an extra attack for the castle guards’ opponents.

Which would be quite difficult with Barnabas hounding him like this.

There was nothing for it. He’d have to take a risk, Vito decided. He needed to create enough of an opening for himself, first.

The same duplicate technique from before might do the trick. But yes, it would be a risk. If Barnabas wasn’t fooled by the decoys when Vito tried to use them for cover, then Vito might very well have to eat that club with his face.

So the answer was to be patient, first. Try the duplicates multiple times. See how Barnabas reacted to them before committing to anything else.

And that was what he did.

The lutetium reacted as he engulfed himself in a deep reddish flame once more. He sent out the three duplicates, spreading behind him as he moved.

Barnabas changed tactics on him. Instead of continuing to pummel the ground, the man gave a big, sweeping swing of his club and caught two of the three duplicates at once--and almost the real Vito as well, if he didn’t take an extra hop backward to avoid it in time.

Agh.

Barnabas didn’t let up, either, and the chase continued.

Vito tried again. Five duplicates this time, spreading out even farther. It was more taxing on Kerikos, but it worked. Barnabas swung wide, catching three copies instead of the real thing.

Vito seized the opening. He circled around to Barnabas’ back and grappled him under the club arm and around the neck. He twisted with all his strength, but the man’s head didn’t pop free like Vito intended. In fact, it hardly felt like Barnabas was under his control at all.

Barnabas’ free hand found Vito’s left shoulder and gripped it with such strength that the bones therein snapped instantly. And even from that awkward angle, when Barnabas yanked on the crushed shoulder, Vito felt that the man might actually succeed in pulling him off his back unless he did something.

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“No one interferes,” said Barnabas, looking briefly around. The other Abolishers seemed disappointed, but none argued.

Vito was about to say something else, but Barnabas didn’t give him time.

The man blitzed forward, wooden club cocked back for a big swing.

Vito reacted without thinking. He sacrificed both arms to a surge of molten lutetium as the rest of him dashed backward in a succession of quick hops.

Barnabas took the attack head on and didn’t stop. The club crashed down just in front of Vito--and kept crashing even as he moved. Barnabas followed him with continued, thunderous swings, leaving craters and kicking up debris with each of Vito’s hops.

And it soon became apparent to Vito that this was not going to stop. They were in a chase now, one spurred on by superhuman endurance. They were not going to get tired for hours, days, or even weeks, depending on how hard their reapers chose to push them.

The castle was taking more of a beating than Vito. In their wake, Barnabas’ great wooden club annihilated inconvenient walls and rendered the ground virtually impassable for normal people.

There were close calls, though. Vito could feel the rush of air from each swing, enough so that it was almost a distraction unto itself. He wanted to slide through a blow for a counterattack, but he knew that to be a deadly gamble, at best. Barnabas was able to swing that thing as if it weighed no more than a knife.

So Vito decided to just keep blasting him with fire, instead. The attacks weren’t doing much, but they weren’t doing nothing, either. He could see Barnabas’ smoldering, half-melted skin. It was obviously going to take a lot more than that in order to bring down a servant, but in a battle of attrition, Vito would eventually get there while these swings would not.

Still, this was not ideal. One slip up might just be the end. He didn’t know if he’d be able to survive even a single attack from that club. It seemed a peculiar choice of weapon, and Vito had a rather strong suspicion that there was more to it than met the eye.

He had to endure. To stay focused. On both Barnabas and their environment. Leaping continually backwards like this was no easy feat. Kerikos had to make sure the way behind them was clear. That they weren’t backing themselves into a corner.

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Kerikos’ senses were telling Vito that Prince David and the other non-combatants had all made it through the hole and were running together. That was a relief, but he also had to be concerned about other enemies scattered throughout the castle. The reaper could sense so much chaos around Livingston, right now. It was difficult to parse through it all, but for the moment, their escape path seemed clear.

If they ran into trouble, would he be able to reach them in time? His hands were quite full here, but even if they weren’t, the growing distance might become an issue.

It was time to go for that previous strategy he’d thought of. He needed to steer this fight toward potential allies.

“Why so quiet all of a sudden?” said Barnabas. “I was enjoying our conversation!”

“As was I,” said Vito. “Apologies. Might you be willing to tell me what your goal here is?”

“Goal?” said Barnabas with another mild laugh. “Don’t know, don’t care. You’d have to ask the bigwigs about that.”

Kerikos had to wonder if that was the truth. Clearly, this fellow had enough authority to make all these other Abolishers listen to him, so it seemed unlikely Barnabas here would be that uninformed about whatever this current operation was.

Playing dumb, perhaps?

“I’ll tell you my name if you tell me your motive,” tried Vito.

Barnabas’ brow twitched. “You hard of hearing, friend? Can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

Hmm. “Then maybe you could tell me who is leading this attack, instead.”

“Now why would I tell you that?”

“Because you like me?”

“Heh. Not that much.”

“Shame. What if I tell you my name in exchange?”

“You were so protective of that before, but now you want to use it as a bargaining chip? Not just tough, but wily, too, eh? Somethin’ tells you’re trying to take advantage of my amicable nature, right now. Probably feed me some bullshit alias, instead, hmm?”

“Same could be said about you,” said Vito. “You wouldn’t lie about your leader’s name?”

“Of course not. I’m an honorable fellow, as you yourself have already pointed out.”

“True. But if you’re really so honorable, then you should trust me to be honorable in return.”

“Aha. Unfortunately for you, I’ve made that mistake before and learned my lesson. It’s a fine line between honorability and gullibility.”

“Don’t be like that,” said Vito. “If we can’t trust each other’s word, then what are we even doing, right now?”

Barnabas rolled his shoulders. “Good question.”

Aw, shit.