Zoe’s heart pounded in her chest as Sarah pointed at her. The bushes and boulders hid her, there was no way Sarah knew where she was, but that wouldn’t matter if that technique fired off. Zoe didn’t even understand what it was. She couldn’t even feel the Skein building up, but she knew the technique was coming any second. With her Might, she could probably survive the onslaught, but she couldn’t risk her friends.
With a roar, she burst from the bushes and charged toward Sarah and the two dark-shelled mantis. Her footsteps boomed across the grass.
Sarah’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You!”
“Me!” Zoe snarled as her chains swung out.
She lashed at the thin woman, but Sarah bent backward. Her hip hinged unnaturally, and the chains whipped through the air where her head had been. Zoe stumbled as her momentum pulled her in one direction. [I Will Carry You] lightened the load, and she redirected the chains toward Sarah. The woman flipped backwards avoiding the chains until she outdistanced them.
Zoe snarled as she retracted the lengths. The mantis-woman must have a Dexterity-focused build. Swinging wouldn’t be enough.
[Empress in Time]
Moth’s Mirrored skin slipped over her, a cool sense of comforting armor that helped her control her breathing.
Sarah stood on the far side of the clearing, beside the cage of captives. There was a mixture of hope and misery on some faces of the captives, but mostly they were confused and scared. Most had given up, and when they looked at Zoe, they didn’t know who she was.
“I’m going to save you all,” she called.
“Is that so?” Sarah mocked. “Are you the hero in this story?”
Zoe’s friends emerged from the bush. Bella’s sword howled as Oriz raised her grass blade. Skidmark and Anton circled behind them, techniques ready in their hands.
“Oh, dear!” Sarah called out. “It appears as though we’re outnumbered! Someone should tell the Queen.”
One of the black mantis extended its wings. They thrummed into a shadowy blur as the mantis lifted off and shot into the sky.
“Stop it!” Zoe called out.
Oriz leaped up, her grass blade extending out toward the fleeing mantis. The other black mantis buzzed her way. Ominous purple light bled from its barbed claws as it engaged her.
Oriz parried and bounced away. Purple light infected her sword as she slid to a halt on the ground below.
Above her, the fleeing mantis vanished into the sky. That could only mean reinforcements were coming.
“The bug got away,” Oriz called out. She threw away her blade of grass as it crumbled into purple dust. “Their attacks silence Skein.
“Yes, it would be a shame if they hit you,” Sarah added. “Better just get hit by me.”
She pointed at Oriz, and the air exploded around the alien woman. Grass and dirt exploded into the sky as the invisible technique shredded the ground. Oriz flew backward. The wind lacerated her jumpsuit but barely sliced her skin. Oriz’s flesh was stronger after having surpassed level 50, but that didn’t hold for the rest of the party.
Zoe roared as she charged toward Sarah. The mantis-woman laughed at the chains lashing her way. Sarah dodged. When she was in the air, Zoe extended a clawed hand.
[Empress in Time]
Time burned through her veins. Her technique flared, and Zoe seized the fleeing woman in a congealed moment. Sarah hovered there, mockery frozen on her face. Zoe muscles burned as she launched herself as fast as possible. She gathered a metallic fist and drove it straight into Sarah’s sternum. The woman’s body flew out of the zone of time and slammed into the dome’s wall. Rock cracked, crumbled, and fell as Sarah slipped to the ground in a cloud of dust.
She rose to her feet, shaky, lab coat torn, but otherwise no worse for wear.
“Interesting,” she said. “I wonder how you pulled that off? You will be a wonderful specimen for the queen to study. You’re strong, but are you fast?”
Sarah pointed a finger.
Zoe’s eyes widened. She couldn’t see the technique, so she dodged at random. Her chained feet sprung out, and she reduced their weight to move further. The ground exploded beneath her as she leaped. Invisible blades scraped her mirrored legs. Her armor reflected them, but the blows shuddered her bones.
She hit the ground awkwardly and dodged again on instinct. Invisible explosions followed her. Grass and pebbles rained down as Zoe found herself against the rocky wall of the dome.
Sarah smiled.
“You’re trapped now,” she said. “Like a bug.”
Bella charged Sarah.
The slender woman dodged the howling runeblade and pointed at Bella.
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“No!” Zoe shouted.
An explosion kicked up an obscuring cloud of dirt. Fragments of bones and shells drifted down like confetti paper. Bella knelt at the end of a groove in the mud. Her sword pulsed with light as she gripped it with shaking hands. Blood ran down her knuckles as the blade whined. Bella blocked the attack, but only barely. Even as she lowered the blade, her hair fell to the ground — shorn above her ears by the invisible explosion of razor-sharp air.
Oriz charged in to attack Sarah, but the dark mantis thudded in to intercept. Wild swings forced Oriz to dodge back. The purple-charged attacks filled the air, and Oriz recoiled from the power that would rob her Skein.
Anton and Skidmark went for the cage while the others battled. Sarah raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger toward the cage, but Zoe and Bella charged her as one.
“Forget about something?” Zoe said as her chains lashed forward.
Sarah turned with a smirk. Her finger collapsed into a fist, and then she spread an open palm. Zoe’s charge slowed as the air shattered into blades. Countless slashes struck her body. Her chains dug into the ground as the blast lifted her from her feet. Each blow drained her Skein as her Mirrored Skin deflected the attacks.
“You’re a tough nut to crack,” Sarah said before she turned to Bella. “But you…”
Bella swung at her. A reality-rending cyclone swirled around the runeblade and it sucked in the floating dust and debris sent up by Sarah’s explosion.
Sarah dodged the attack with contemptuous ease. Bella spun and Sarah pointed her finger. Air rushed and knocked back Bella’s blade. Another finger and Bella hastily parried. The shockwave whistled over the runed steel and blasted Bella off her feet.
She hit the ground hard and rolled over, groaning.
“It’s air blades,” Bella said. “She’s shooting air blades.”
“I have a solution,” Anton said through his silver eyes.
“Do you?” Sarah said as she pointed at the cage.
Anton and Skidmark fled their attempts to open it as the ground tore open around them.
It was impossible to see the blades moving through the air, only when they passed through the floating dust were any swirls noticeable, but it was too fast for any reactions.
Even though Zoe had more Skein than ever before, this wasn’t a fight she could prolong. Every move felt balanced on a razor’s edge. She gritted her teeth. No matter how powerful she grew, there was always a challenge ready to meet her at her level — and that was nobody’s fault but the system’s.
Anger pumped through her as she charged Sarah.
The dark mantis swooped in front of her. Purple light pulsed along its armor and blades as it swung at her head. Zoe dodged the first strike but was off-balanced. She wrapped chains around her forearm and caught the barbs plunging toward her stomach. Purple light flashed through her veins with a dull shock.
[Skein disabled]
Her eyes widened as her Mirrored technique vanished.
[Cooldown: 5 seconds]
[4 seconds]
The mantis slashed again. Zoe hastily dodged back, but it pursued her. She threw up her arms in defense. The purple light oozed through her again.
[Skein disabled]
[Cooldown: 8 seconds]
[4 seconds]
She leaped backward. The strength in her legs remained even if she lost her abilities. This technique had the same effect as the Mirrorbell. How could a creature this simple have a technique like —
The surrounding air exploded into blades. Zoe screamed in silence as her ears rang. She flew, her skin shredded, and slammed into the cliff.
Blood marked the trail as she slid down the rock. Her breath came fast as she hit the ground and tried to crawl away. Her chains grabbed the ground and hauled her upright. Air exploded around her legs. Meat hung free as the blades sunk into her.
“Left now,” Anton’s voice whispered in her ear.
She couldn’t think through the pain.
ding!
Got it!
Her chains coiled and tensed and launched her body like a rag doll as the grass where she stood blasted apart.
“Straight up ahead.”
Her chains launched her up. It was curious to have the Black Star moving her body. She remembered the feeling from fighting the Angel, but she had been in so much pain it blurred her
Now she could think, despite the sharpening pain from stab wounds deep in the meat of her legs. She wouldn’t die from such an injury, but the ache filled her mind as she fell.
[1 second]
[Skein enabled]
From up high, she had a moment to assess the battle. Her Insight devoured the scene.
Anton’s eyes completely obscured Sarah. They floated around her in a cage of silvery spores. Whenever she cast one of her wind blades, they passed through an eye. As his technique disintegrated, Anton extrapolated their direction. The man himself stood by the cage, trying to decipher a lock made from webbing, blood ran from his eyes all over his neck and arms as his technique withstood Sarah’s brutal assault. Bella stood by him, defending against the dark mantis with her runeblade. It seemed the sword was immune to the canceling effect of the mantis’s technique, but it was strong, and she was barely keeping up.
Skidmark and Oriz were fighting Sarah. Skidmark cast lightning bolts through the gaps in Anton’s cage of eyes while Oriz dashed in and fought with a curved knife of grass. The alien woman fought ferociously and was putting Sarah on the back foot.
Zoe didn’t know what level Sarah had, but with her team’s numbers, they would win.
She hit the ground and charged to join them. Mirror slipped over her body. She wrapped her chains around each other and sent them out in a devastating flail. Sarah’s eyes widened as she stepped to the side to avoid it. Her movement took her into the path of Oriz, who melted out of the side and swung her curved dagger under Sarah’s ribs.
The blade pierced skin, and blood flowed. Pain caused Sarah to stumble, and Oriz’s blade slipped out, she leaped clear as lightning coursed from Skidmark’s fingers to Sarah’s body. Her pale flesh shuddered. In that moment of distraction, Zoe closed the distance. She swung her whip of chains with all her might.
It crashed down onto Sarah’s shoulder and wrapped around her neck. The Black Star guided the chains into creating a perfect noose. Zoe’s heels dug grooves into the loam as she heaved on her chains. Sarah flew from her position and Zoe swung her around like a wrecking ball and flung her into the rocky wall.
Dust exploded out.
Light flashed.
The mantis stood against the wall. Translucent skin seething with blood. Barbs raised. Mandibles peeled back to reveal chattering human teeth.
“I tire of this,” she said. “Supreme Gale of Blades!”
Her claws danced in a complicated pattern, and the air rippled.
She was facing the cage.
“No!” Zoe cried out.
She urged the Black Star and leaped with all her Might. Her chains propelled her toward the cage. The Mirrored armor on her skin might be enough. It had to be enough. She leaped into the path of the attack.
The Gale of Blades struck Zoe. Her skein plummeted. Her mirror cracked. She spun from the blows. Her eyes widened at the horror. Blades of air sliced past her and into the cage. Viscera burst into the air. The captive humans screamed as they were torn limb from limb. Anton leaped away, but a blade caught him in the hip and flung him clear. Bella was locked into combat with the black mantis, neither could flee, and blades sunk into them both.
Zoe hit the ground and blinked away the hot blood pooling on her mirrored eyes she saw blood running down the frosty tube in the center of the battlefield. A large crack ran down the length of the tube. Ice sloughed away, and something monstrous stirred inside.