When Father didn’t charge, Fiddler ordered the array of Hardbody Crustaceans behind him to surge from the coral cathedral and into the street beyond. It made planning difficult because Father had fully intended to wait until he could send another fireball through the front door.

  The gang immediately spread out, making any spell Father cast far less effective. Killing a few was still great, but there wouldn't be any mass casualties from his next rock throw.

  Knowing this life would be a failure made all decisions easier for Father. He would die, and he would try again. What mattered was learning and coming up with a real plan for the next attempt.

  Between three spells, with one likely doing nothing at all, he only had enough utility to manage a handful of sea creatures when they didn’t choose to clump together. His skills with a gun would benefit him to some extent, but he could only attack so quickly.

  Maybe a head-on assault simply wasn’t the answer. It was too late now, but he could try to find a back door on his next visit.

  Fiddler pointed his oversized claw at Father. “Kill the bastard!”

  Father ripped a chunk of road free with rock throw and sent the boulder flying through the water. It crushed some clownfish and rolled over the leg of a crab, crushing it and releasing a cloud of meat and dusted chitin

  A bullet hit Father’s shoulder and bounced off, luckily hitting the chitin at an odd angle. It still sent a burst of pain into the muscle underneath like he had been hit with a hammer.

  Other bullets whizzed by, leaving trails of bubbles hanging in the water by Father’s head. He ducked, stepped to the side, and sent a fireball flying in Fiddler’s direction.

  The crab pressed his long claw into the pavement, bent it oddly, then vaulted into the air with the energy stored within the claw. Syrupy fire passed underneath and coated his allies.

  Fiddler landed as the explosion tore the other Hardbody Crustaceans apart. Meat and broken chitin crashed against the back of the crab. Fiddler pulled his own handgun from within his leather jacket. He rested his small claw on the big one, using it to steady his aim as the barrel pointed directly at Father.

  Spark

  The beginner spell was one that Father hadn’t yet tested. He had expected some type of electricity or stun attack. Instead, he got embers that floated toward Fiddler.

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  The crab fired, hitting Father in the bandolier. A shotgun shell popped, exploding with far less flair and danger than Father would have expected.

  Spark hit Fiddler, and immediately ignited the crab. He screamed and flailed.

  “I should’ve tested all these out,” Father muttered. He picked some broken bullet casing pieces from his shell, then turned his attention to the right where the majority of remaining Hardbody Crustaceans charged. They primarily had melee weapons, and the ones with guns were still behind and couldn’t seem to find a clear shot through the chaos.

  Zap

  The bolt of electricity that swam from his claw moved like a snail. Even the embers from the spark spell had moved faster. Father focused on the shotgun instead, aiming at the incoming bottom feeders that weren’t in the path of the spell.

  Any fish within range went down in a spray of meat and scales, but the actual crustaceans and the few mollusks weathered the lead better. As they fully closed in, Father managed to press the barrel of the shotgun against a mud crab’s head. Its murky brains sprayed into the eyes of a clownfish, who screamed.

  Zap hit a lobster. Electricity visibly arced through the crustacean’s body, jumping in the gaps between its claws and antennae. He collapsed with smoke rising from his mouth.

  Tickle

  Father collapsed a grouper that approached from the left. It fell in a laughing fit and the machete it carried clattered to the ground.

  A knife found its way into Father’s side, just below his arm. He threw an elbow back, catching a clownfish in the eye. A baseball hit Father across the head and staggered him.

  Sea creatures surrounded him on all sides. Even as he took a step away from the nearest mud crab, he backed into another clownfish, who stuck Father with another knife.

  Hop

  Father leapt into the air. The sudden jolt caused both knives to wiggle and renew their pain. He hoped to see an escape or find a new idea while above. Instead, he found a sea of Hardbody Crustaceans. A true army was after him.

  A back door would have been a better idea.

  It felt like it had been minutes since he had thrown a boulder, but the spell was still on cooldown. Both powerful spells weren’t available. Father sent a hopeless spray of buckshot into the crowd.

  Hop

  He jumped off of nothing and went higher in the water. It gave him some time to think as he hovered briefly above the waiting crowd. Some bullets flew in his direction.

  Hop

  Unavailable

  There was a third spell Father had found and hadn’t tried. He was still unsure of exactly what it would do, but considering the name, he hoped it might do some damage.

  Anti-Levitation

  It was Father’s first time casting a spell on himself. Hop didn’t give him any options since it was automatically applied to himself. Anti-Levitation actually had a little beam, so Father had to press his claw against himself to make sure the spell didn’t hit some random creature or object elsewhere.

  As the spell took effect, Father realized his mistake. Levitation had a loose definition. Floating, even briefly from the hop spell, was still levitating, and the one thing the spell hated was levitation.

  Father became a meteor. Everything blurred before he hit the ground. Chitin, meat, and shotgun shells exploded outward.

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