-How did they get us already!?

Yeah, it was them alright.

The moment the portal appeared, I recognized the bland uniforms.

-Not this time! - yelled Mike and swung his hand towards the opening in space. - CLOSE!

It… actually worked.

Only a couple of people managed to squeeze through before the purple opening in space had disappeared.

Whoever was about to step through was lucky they didn’t get caught in the middle…

-You can do that?!

-I didn’t expect that to work!

-How did that even work!?

-Less talk, more…

Before he finished his sentence, a stone was flung right at his head.

Wait, it wasn’t a stone. It was a gunshot. I was confused, because this one was completely silent.

One of the guys that went through the portal was holding something akin to a rifle with a silencer, so I guess it was him? The ones behind him had smaller guns, similar to revolvers. And those did produce noise, as they demonstrated moments later, shooting at us.

Mike reflexively raised a barrier between us and them with the earth he molded, but that was short-lived. Just one shot from the silenced weapon was enough to break it.

But, it was not necessary.

This time, I was not holding back.

Taking a page from his book, I focused and changed my hand into a blade, making it as long as I could and swung through the breaking barrier.

The effect was immediate.

They all fell down as it was just trees that I chopped down.

-Holy…

-That was effective - I said, impressed by my own attack. - I…

I didn’t finish, because another portal opened next to me.

I jumped back a step and swung right at it, to preemptively attack whoever was going to go through…

But no one came.

Did I miss…?

No.

The portal… split in half? And then disappeared.

-Whoah…

I looked down at my hand, and there was no mistaking it. The mana from the opening portal was sucked by my blade and dispersed it.

So it can work this way too?

-You can do that?! - Mike yelled, repeating what I said just a short while ago.

-I didn’t expect that to work! - I said, echoing our previous realization.

-That makes things easier!

-You think they’ll keep going?

There was no need for an answer, because another fluctuation appeared in front of us.

Both of us reacted together.

I swiped, he sent a surge of mana towards it. It split in half, just as his magic reached it and dispersed it even quicker.

-Overkill. But that’s good…

-I didn’t hit you, hopefully? - he asked.

-Err… I don’t think so? Why?

-Don’t know what a makeshift spell… if that was even a spell, would do to you.

-Didn’t feel a thing, so I guess your targeting was on point.

-Good. I…

Again, another portal. This time, he hesitated, probably still thinking about what he just said, but I didn’t care. I got rid of it instead.

-What the fuck is going on?

-I don’t…

Another portal, another swipe.

-Did they find another way to track us? This is concerning…

-You don’t say. I…

This time, two portals at once.

Even without coordination, each of us destroyed the closet one, getting rid of them both.

-It’s like they suddenly pulled out all the stops!

-Fuck, we need to move!

-And how would that help? You think they’re targeting an area?

Even more portals. That was getting problematic.

We still could easily destroy them, but it started getting chaotic.

-Fuck if I know. Let’s bolt. Haste yourself.

-I…

Before I answered, he disappeared.

If he didn’t tell me, I’d say he just vanished, but I realized that he just used that weird speed to move away, so I did the same.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Not before swiping at the rest of the portals I’ve noticed.

Everything was frozen around me.

It’s a good thing I managed to get a hang on this skill. Or at least starting it up. Deactivating was still a bit of a problem, though…

Speaking of a problem.

Where was I supposed to go?

In his haste, Mike forgot to mention that part.

I probably should try and detect him…

And nothing.

I mean, I could feel a bunch of things, but that was not him. The amount of loose mana was preventing me from pinpointing his location. Hell, any location.

If I was to change spots, maybe then it would be possible to find him…

But, speaking of things I could find…

Portals.

Even though I essentially stopped time, there were some that already were appearing.

About five of those, to boot.

Whatever was going on there?

Did some higher-ups finally manage to hear about our exploits and pressured them to hurry up?

Or they just got annoyed by everything?

Either of those, that was not good news.

In any case, I needed to move.

But before that, I probably should deal with the portals…

That was simple enough. Just a swipe and I was pretty sure that I was done.

Just to be sure, I waited a couple of minutes to see the mana start dispersing.

-Good… - I mumbled to myself. - Now about him…

A question.

Should I follow him?

Up till now, I was just sticking with him for the sake of it.

Was that a good idea any more?

Sure, he used to be my friend, but I think I was the only one who was seeing him that way.

Having him be a target was also a problem…

So why not just leave?

-I probably should’ve done that a long time ago… - I mumbled to myself, running away as far as I could.

I just was hoping that my luck won’t direct me right towards where he went as well.

It didn’t feel like it for a long while, so I started thinking more about my pursuit.

No sign of it?

Looks like it.

Okay, I was still sped up, so I guess it was hard to tell if I actually managed to get out of that situation, but still. There were no fluctuations in mana, besides the occasional gashes pouring out energy that this place was so full of.

After fifteen or so minutes of me running, I stopped and waited for a bit.

Anything?

Nope, didn’t seem like it.

The place was also nothing special. Even managed to find a spot that was not actively pouring mana, so I could easily look around and if anything was to appear I would be able to react quicker… not like that was a problem before.

I took a deep breath and released the mana accelerating me.

Sound came back to me, leaves started moving and the whole forest was back again to be in constant movement.

And…

Nothing?

I actually managed to shake them off?

For a moment, it did look like it.

Just for some magical anomaly to appear right in front of me.

-Of course… - I mumbled, annoyed.

At this point, I could clearly tell that it was a portal. And even could recognize the mana: the same one that I saw when we split with Mike.

Doesn’t mean I knew whose that was, but still.

I swiped at it to disperse it like before, just to realize that during my run I accidentally changed my body back to normal and instead of a blade I had my fingers back.

Meaning, I didn’t reach in time.

-Fuck! CLOSE!

In the heat of a moment, I intended to imitate Mike.

Not sure if that was a good idea. Especially since it didn’t seem like it worked at first.

One person managed to step out and multiple ones, I assume were right behind.

But, before I, or the other party, managed to react with some kind of spell or anything else, something happened to them.

They just… fell down face first into the dirt, like they tripped on something.

The next person almost followed suit, but they managed to realize that a body of their colleague was blocking the way and stepped over it.

Seeing as my haste forced me to deal with more of them, I decided to do this the way I actually knew worked and started changing my hand again.

Meanwhile, the portal was still there, and people started stepping through, just like before. Even the one that was on the floor had gathered himself from the ground. It did look like he was a bit concussed, though.

The only good thing was that there was just the one singular portal opened. I guess they did think I was less of a priority target? Or maybe it was some kind of limitation to their magic?

In any case, it didn’t matter. I had to deal with the portal first.

But, when I was in the middle of changing my hand, I felt something hit me square in the eye…. and blinded me?

-Ow! - I yelped, surprised.

I didn’t expect for them to be able to deal damage to me. Especially since none of them looked like they were powerful. Hell, I was even unable to see any of those rifles I’ve noticed before, just some small revolver-like guns. Didn’t really see, with one eye blinded.

Realizing that I needed to be fast, I decided to not even bother changing my hand and just leaped forward, wanting to strike them with my fists. Including the portal.

It sort of worked.

Sort of, because while I managed to reach the portal and disable it with a quick swing and not before three more people had jumped out. Including one that barely escaped being cut in half by a closing opening.

They immediately split into two groups.

One, consisting of three people, seemingly the last ones that appeared, had jumped backwards and hid behind a nearest tree.

I could feel some mana immediately gather, seeing as they were trying to cast some kind of spell.

I wanted to interrupt them, of course, but in my way, the second group had stepped in.

Another three people.

Well, maybe two, because the third one, the clumsy one, still had some problems.

A bit strange. Was the concussion that bad?

It not really being my problem, I rushed towards the ones blocking my way with intention to drain them into unconsciousness.

Two of them immediately replied, tossing a spell at me.

An earth spell. Nothing special, but they did learn to use physical objects against me. I was wondering why they didn’t use guns, but before that thought even managed to fully form in my head, I got shot.

Apparently, the rocks were just a way to mess with my vision.

That’s an idea. I guess they thought they managed to half-blind me so a similar attack would work?

Wait…

Blinding…?

I blinked, realizing that I was able to see again.

Did I heal? Was that just it? That they damaged my head before?

That never stopped from actually perceiving things, at least not magical ones, so I guess it was a deeper wound. And yet, it healed? Right when I was shot?

Weird.

And speaking of seeing.

There was still the third person. The one that I thought was concussed.

When his companions jumped in to intercept me, he was still a bumbling mess on the floor again.

I thought that it was just a concussion, but when he turned towards me, I realized that that was not it.

His eyes were closed.

And not only that. I actually couldn’t see his eyelids.

He had no eyelids.

Where his eyes were supposed to be, there was just fused, smooth skin. Not even eyelashes were there.

-What the fuck happened… - I said to myself.