A sharp cry of pain followed by the hollow thud of Heavy Blow activating told Noem he’d hit his target. He turned and sunk his fingers into the softer stone surrounding the blocks of the quarry, then activated Nimble as soon as Heavy Blow gave him the space to work with. With his body responding perfectly to all of his movements, Noem scaled the wall in a matter of seconds and pulled himself out of the bubble of smoke.
He rolled over his shoulder, plucked an arrow from his quiver, and drew his bow all before he landed in a one-legged kneel that was as immovable as an ancient oak. A single figure in a black anonymity suit could’ve been staring at him, but Noem wasn’t sure. What he was sure of was that they weren’t alone, and that they wouldn’t be using the severed arm that lay on the ground next to them unless they had some powerful healing Qi.
“Get him.” The figure spoke in perfect monotone with a voice that sounded like it had been generated by a terrible A.I. Their bond, a bear with icy antlers and eyes atop a body made of sheets of metal that were welded together roared a breath that instantly froze in the air and charged at Noem.
With the creature between them and Noem, the anonymous figure took a step back and held out one hand. Qi gathered on their fingertips like little thimbles of raw power, then froze over with an infusion of ice from their bond. But they didn’t fire it right away. They had to be waiting for their bond to make an opening.
“Well, I’m not giving it to you.” Noem grunted and let loose his arrow. It hit the bear clean in the eye, and held fast, but the creature wasn’t bothered in the slightest. “Damned spirits. Act like a human when your eye gets shish-kebabed.”
Noem slung his bow over his shoulder and drew his knife. The bear finally got close enough to swipe a paw that hadn’t been clawed a second ago, but now brandished five horrible scythes of ice that bled vapor into the air around them. He slammed his knife into them and pushed as hard as his body would allow.
The bear slid back, much to its own–and it’s bonder’s–surprise. Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Noem twisted and wrapped his free arm around one of the anchored spirit’s massive limbs. He grunted and twisted into a swipe that severed the bear’s front leg from the knee down, and Noem rolled with the momentum of the metal chunk to get out of the way of any follow-up attacks.
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He crouched at the ready. The attacker did nothing. They stood there, stunned speechless and useless, just as their bond did. That was strange. Why would Ajiana hire people who got surprised when their ambush failed? She must’ve told them they would be dealing with someone who’d managed to steal from her for four years.
The attacker shook off their surprise far too slowly. Noem could’ve easily dismembered the spirit in the three seconds they gave him. So he did. The bear’s head slammed to the ground, along with all four of its limbs, leaving only a shell hollow of everything but a glowing blue stone cradled in a lattice of cold steel. The bear’s anchor.
Noem raised his hand to block the volley of icy shards, then activated Dash. The attacker screamed in monotone as Noem’s knife bit ever so slightly into the Qi around their neck, but no further. After that, only whimpers escaped their blank hood along with a small trickle of blood.
“Why are you so weak?” Noem asked.
The attacker flinched away at nothing but his words. Pathetic. “I’m not weak. I’m a fourteenth-realm cultivator.”
Noem glanced back at the pieces of bear, then at the hostage he’d taken with a minimal amount of effort. “Good for you, little miss fourteenth-realm-cultivator. But, you know, since you’re the one with a blade at their throat, I think my definition of ‘weak’ beats yours out by just a little bit.”
The knife cut just a little deeper. Noem kept his face neutral as his hostage begged to be spared. “Who sent you?”
“I can’t say.”
A sheen of Qi appeared over the attacker that felt like staring into an endless pit. A skill welled up that wasn’t theirs, wrapping around the simple words ‘I can’t say’ like thread around a bony spindle. In the split second Noem wavered, the hostage attacked. A blade of ice scraped against Noem’s throat, aided by whatever skill had wrapped around them.
It clashed against Resilient like the wind against a mountain. The skill’s true nature etched itself into Noem’s mind as his Qi fought back the intrusion. His knife flourished in a visceral spurt of life, slicing through the anonymity and into skin as pale as marble. Noem couldn’t see the hostage’s eyes through the anonymity, but he knew they widened in disbelief as their attack failed so absolutely.
And as they died, useless and in pain, the skill around them burst to life. It wrapped them in a blanket of safety and life, folded in on itself until it was nothing but a single square of Qi, then shot off far in the distance. It left a trail of brilliant white Qi that shone with an inner flame, and was immediately joined by another from right over Noem’s shoulder.
Noem sheathed his knife and rolled his sore shoulder. “And that would be the spirit. Good fucking riddance, you bastards. At least I have my… ah, fuck.”
Noem reached up and felt his fingers press against his face. His bare face. His anonymity hood-less face. That was a very, very bad thing. No matter how well encrypted his system was, if that attacker had been recording, or had a good memory, they would know who he was. He hadn’t used anything he’d ever used to attack the skyrail, but the connection would be impossible to mistake.
The trail of Qi cut off in midair. A corpse tumbled down from the heavens and into the smoke far below. Noem stared at it blankly, and the crackling silver-yellow electricity that had quite possibly saved his life. One that he recognized from years ago.
“Yo, Noem. Long time no see.”