Chapter 8
The Mirage
The storm outside raged on, thunder cracking like the war drums of gods as Vance Malcolm and Shadow Knight faced each other. The dimly lit cell flickered with the flash of lightning, casting their shadows onto the stone walls. Vance’s hands were cuffed, but his smirk remained defiant, daring the masked vigilante to make his move.
Shadow Knight didn’t hesitate. He surged forward, his fists crashing against Vance’s ribs like a sledgehammer. Vance grunted in pain but twisted his body, dodging the follow-up strike aimed for his head. The confined space of the cell echoed with the sound of their brutal exchange, each blow landing like a thunderclap.
Shadow Knight caught Vance’s wrist and twisted it sharply, forcing him to his knees. With a single fluid motion, he slammed Vance's head against the wall. The impact reverberated through the cell, leaving a bloody smear where his head had connected. Vance crumpled to the floor, momentarily dazed.
As he fell, a small vial slipped from his coat—the drug given to him by the corrupt police officers. Vance’s smirk widened as he reached for it with trembling fingers.
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“You really think you can stop me?” Vance rasped, his voice dripping with venom.
Shadow Knight didn’t answer. Instead, he unsheathed a gleaming blade, its edge catching the brief flashes of lightning. He stepped forward, raising the blade to deliver the killing blow.
Vance's fingers found the vial. He swallowed its contents in one swift motion. The drug coursed through his veins, igniting his senses with unnatural clarity and strength. As the blade descended, Vance’s enhanced reflexes kicked in. With a precise twist of his body, he used the blade itself to sever the chain of his handcuffs, freeing his hands.
He spun on his heel and delivered a powerful kick to Shadow Knight’s chest, sending the vigilante crashing into the wall with bone-jarring force.
Vance staggered back, his head swimming from the drug’s effects. The cell around him began to warp and twist, its walls shifting like a mirage in the desert heat. His perception splintered, and the world took on an otherworldly hue.
In his mind, the cell disintegrated, and he found himself gripping Shadow Knight by the throat. With a guttural roar, he hurled them both into an ethereal void. The room seemed to collapse in on itself, and in an instant, they were no longer confined by the physical walls of the prison.
They were in the sky.
Clouds roiled around them as they plummeted through the stormy heavens. Wind howled in Vance’s ears as he tightened his grip on Shadow Knight, his crazed smile illuminated by bursts of lightning. The ground loomed below, but to Vance, it was all part of the hallucination.
Shadow Knight struggled, his blade flashing once more in the tempestuous air. He slashed at Vance’s arm, forcing him to release his grip. The two figures tumbled through the storm, trading brutal blows mid-air, their movements a chaotic dance of violence and desperation.
To Vance, this was no longer a fight for survival. It was a battle of gods in a realm only he could see, and he was determined to emerge victorious.
~BlackBlueKnight