The world seemed to freeze as Kyle watched Cornelius begin his attack. Even with HASTE, Kyle knew he would be too slow to stop it. He didn’t care. Skill on full activation, he rushed towards Garth. Just as the axe began to fall, an explosion of fire and lightning detonated between Garth and Cornelius. They were each blown back, creating much-needed time for Kyle to get there. He looked at the origin of the blasts and saw a chubby man and young woman with hands outstretched.

Both were trembling, though each bore a resolute expression on their faces. Thank you. Kyle’s silent thanks ended as he arrived, just in time to block a follow-up strike from the man with the daggers. The man instantly jumped back, creating several meters of distance between himself and Kyle.

“Damn, you’re faster than I heard. Any chance you’d be willing to play with Cornelius and let me clean up here?”

The smoke and dust from the blast was clearing, and Kyle saw the shadow of Cornelius approaching. Garth was still on the ground, blood pooling around him. Think, dammit. What can I do? He knew that on his own, engaging these two at the same time would be a challenging, but winnable, fight. With Garth there, the calculations changed dramatically. There was simply no way he could adequately protect and treat the injured man while holding his own against the other two awakened. A weak voice grabbed Kyle’s attention.

“Don’t worry about me. Just make these bastards pay.” As if he read Kyle’s thoughts, Garth spoke, his voice rough.

“I don’t care if I die here. Just take them down.”

“No time for monologuing.” Kyle responded, grabbing Garth’s body and dashing for his teammates. “Also, this is going to hurt. A lot. But it’s better than dying.”

The young people looked panicked at his arrival, and Kyle saw flames begin to dance around the palm of the chubby Mage that came along with them.

“I’m on your side. Healer, in the back. Take care of him. Use every ounce of mana you’ve got, just get him stable. Mages, I know this isn’t fair to ask, but if you see them coming for you do your best to buy time. I’m going to do what I can to help.”

[BEHIND YOU, DR. MAYHEW.]

No sooner did C.H.A.D.D. finish its warning did the dagger user emerge from the cloud of dust, looking keen to end things quickly. The anger Kyle felt hit a crescendo as he turned to face the man, baton already moving. He intercepted the first dagger, allowing the second to graze harmlessly against his armor. His would-be killer’s eyes opened wide at the response, and Kyle was ready for him. Two, three, four strikes in quick succession pounded the man, causing him to drop one of his weapons.

He backstepped quickly, pulling another dagger out of seemingly nowhere. A flashing orange light from C.H.A.D.D. at the left of his vision caused Kyle to instinctively jump back as a baseball-sized stone flew past him like a cannonball. They had spent a lot of time in the past weeks incorporating C.H.A.D.D.’s projections into Kyle’s fighting style, and the results were beginning to show themselves. Kyle dodged another thrown stone, then a third.

Who is – Kyle’s thought was cut short as he saw the bulky form of Cornelius charging towards him, frustration written on his face as his attack with the stones failed to catch the Healer by surprise. Kyle was ready, dashing to meet him. The large man’s body was still covered in wounds, and Kyle struck a particularly nasty cut on the man’s shoulder twice as he effortlessly moved past the swinging axe. If it had any impact, Kyle couldn’t tell as he was forced to dodge a follow-up attack, Cornelius not seeming to slow in the slightest.

“C.H.A.D.D., can you give me a picture of what damage that attack caused?”

[IF ANY, IT IS NEGLIGIBLE, DR. MAYHEW.]

That’s not going to work. If it had just been Cornelius and Kyle, he would have felt confident winning the war of attrition. With Garth in critical condition and against multiple opponents, the risk was too high. Something would have to tip the balance. His eye drifted to his hand. RESONANCE was an option, and he was fairly certain it would be incredibly effective against the bigger man. There was a risk associated with using that technique to connect to another person, and there was a chance that Cornelius could use Kyle’s own mana reserves against him. Of course, there was the other reason too.

Kyle pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he refocused on the battlefield. The man with the daggers was circling around, moving towards where Garth was being treated. C.H.A.D.D. made the tactic useless as Kyle was warned, and dashed directly towards him. If I can keep the pressure on him, Cornelius will have to follow. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was something. If these two were stuck focusing on him, it would buy time for the others to get Garth stable and hopefully get out. If that happened, Kyle was confident in his ability to escape as well.

“Why don’t you just leave me alone?” The man with the daggers complained, frantically trying to parry Kyle’s attacks.

“What are those people to you anyway? Trust me when I say they’re nothing special.”

Kyle didn’t dignify that with a response, instead focusing on the flow of his strikes. With only one weapon against two, his opponent was able to block the majority, even with HASTE enhancing their speed. Still, a few made it through. The man dropped a dagger as he disengaged, his right arm falling limply by his side.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“You’re good, I’ll give you that much. I wish you’d joined us when you had the chance.”

With that, the man emitted a cloud of smoke, disappearing from view. At least, he tried to.

[BEHIND YOU, DR. MAYHEW.]

C.H.A.D.D. casually projected orange light in the shape of a man, and Kyle didn’t hesitate. The man seemed genuinely surprised as he looked down at the orange glow coming off of his body, and moments later a baton struck the back of his head. He fell to the ground, unmoving. Satisfied that one opponent fell, Kyle looked up and frowned. He didn’t see Cornelius in pursuit as he’d expected. In fact, he didn’t see him at all.

“C.H.A.D.D., where is Cornelius.?”

A shout of pain grabbed his attention as the chubby Mage was thrown off his feet, knocked to the ground. He was clutching his shoulder, a rock having shattered against it. Cornelius hadn’t moved from his previous position, having decided on a different course of action. He seemed to understand that fighting Kyle directly was just an exercise in futility, so he had turned his attention to Garth’s team. They were far weaker, and at this distance simply didn’t have the tools to deal with a constant barrage of stones from the giant. Another stone was already in the air, this time striking the Healer treating Garth. The young man was caught squarely in the ribs and was knocked away, eyes widening as he gasped for breath. Kyle ran to interpose himself between the Liberation general and Garth’s team.

“Stop it Cornelius! Come fight me like a man!”

The mountainous man just laughed as he threw yet another stone, catching the chubby man in the chest as he stood up and knocking him back to the ground.

“What’s wrong, Mayhew? I thought you were going to protect them like the big hero you are.”

He hurled another chunk of stone, this time narrowly missing the head of the young woman among the group. She let out a squeal of fear and hunkered down, shaking. I can’t protect them. Kyle was closing the distance as fast as HASTE would allow him, and saw Cornelius lining up one more shot. “C.H.A.D.D., do it!”

Orange lights glowed over Cornelius’ eyes, and he flinched back as he was momentarily blinded. He threw, but the stone went wide. Kyle closed in, baton flashing out. It struck Cornelius, once, twice, three times. Just as he was ready to land the fourth attack, Cornelius once again released a shockwave, knocking Kyle back. The large man met Kyle’s eyes underneath his helmet, hatred clear on his face. His expression made it clear that no matter what happened next, their plans had been ruined. He was furious. With the scowl of a child about to flip over the game board, his eyes darted towards the remnants of Garth’s team.

With a sinking feeling, Kyle knew what Cornelius was going to do. He dashed to intercept the man, but was blown back once again as the mountain thundered towards his friend. HASTE on full display, Kyle followed. He caught up to Cornelius just as he was getting in range to strike. There was no time to do anything else. Kyle felt the mana swirl around his right hand as he activated RESONANCE. As the axe raised into the air, Kyle felt his hand touch the other man’s side. The mana linked. Cornelius screamed.

~~~

Tucker woke to the sound of Cornelius’ voice crying out in pain. Still dazed, he hurt all over, and the pain helped him to focus. That’s right, I was taken out by Mayhew. He’s stronger than we expected. His eyes widened as he raised his head and saw his friend collapse in a heap, Mayhew’s hand still in the air where it had touched him. Part of him wanted to try to rush in, but the blank look on his old companion’s face told him that it was too late. Cornelius was dead. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be next. He considered his options. His mana reserves were fairly limited after using his skill so liberally against the Mayhew brat, but he didn’t feel that it was appropriate to use the Transportation Array. Valentine was going to be upset enough after all these setbacks, no need to pile on more. Fortunately, his opponents seemed to be distracted enough for the moment.

He pushed his movement skill as far as he could, and by the time he was out of mana he was several kilometers away from their encampment. Even though his travels were slower than he’d like, in just two days Tucker found himself in the forest outside of Duilleag. His injuries had been aggravated by the journey, and he was barely holding onto consciousness. Still, one thought kept him moving. Valentine isn’t going to let Cornelius die unavenged. Even though taking down the Central Authority was likely now out of their reach, putting down the enemies who ruined their plans was still well within Gregory Valentine’s hand.

“Wow, you look like death warmed over.”

The voice took Tucker by surprise, and he looked up to see Carlyle sitting on a tree branch a few meters off the ground, legs kicking casually in the wind. He jumped down and faced Tucker, an easy smile on his face.

“This is great, you and Cornelius managed to really screw it up this time. Where is the big oaf?”

Tucker glared at the impetuous young man.

“This isn’t a time for joking. Our encampments have fallen, and Cornelius is dead. We need to get to Valentine right away.”

The gaunt man had a thoughtful look on his face, then the smile returned, more predatory than ever before.

“So you’re telling me that you managed to ruin everything that Valentine worked for.”

“No, I’m telling you that we have an enemy who did. And we will resolve it. I don’t have time to talk, either help me or get out of the way.”

Tucker’s patience for the whelp had been nigh nonexistent to begin with, and he continued to walk towards the town. He walked past the still smiling young man, and as he did something felt… wrong.

Tucker dove as fast as he could, but his injuries made him too slow. The FIREBALL caught him in his lower back, exploding in a torrent of flame. Tucker coughed; his nose filled with the stench of burning flesh. As he lay in the dirt, he looked up to see Carlyle casually walking towards him.

“You know, my parents were so happy that I was awakened. Valentine was their hero, and they were so excited that I’d get the opportunity to serve him. They pushed me hard, they made me practice, they gave so much to make me useful to him. Then, right before I’m supposed to meet him, my idol, everything ends. My parents are dead.”

Carlyle was now directly in front of Tucker, looking down at him.

“But despite all that, I got to meet him anyway. And you know what happens? You, Cornelius, and Susan treat me like trash. If he could just see what I could do, if he just knew how hard I worked for him, I know he’d want me to work with him. But all of you convinced him to toss me aside. You made my mistakes look worse than your screw ups. Well you know what, Tucker?”

If he had been able to focus, he would have seen a gleam of madness in the other man’s eyes. Instead, his world was slowly going dark, the pain turning to numbness. Carlyle continued.

“Now Valentine is finally going to acknowledge me. Because I’ll be all he has left.”

With that, a final FIREBALL crashed into Tucker, and he was no more.