{Dance of Duels}

At the Red Circle --

"What the-," The elite beside Joe, his personal bodyguard, watched Joe fall to the ground with the dirk jutting sticking out of his heart.

Where had this attack come from? There were recon drones everywhere to make sure nothing surprised the Elites, not to mention the environmental scanning systems programmed into their helmets. A stab to the back like this would not make it past the tight perimeter the Elite squadrons had drawn up.

The only explanation was an Alter with a concealment based power sufficiently advanced enough to avoid even higher end AC scanning.

The elite's training instincts kicked in and he adapted, suppressing his immediate worry. He stepped away from Joe's body and aimed his gun at where the knife wielder would be.

"Assuming command!" the Elite shouted into his helmet as he raised his gun. He could see that the knife was being wielded by some strange mass of hazy darkness that now started to solidify into…the shape of a skeleton?