Basem stuck close to the moonlit side of the empty building walls as he moved, careful to avoid open areas for more than an instant and shadows even less. Stalk masked his presence, sound, scent, and even intent while Greater Chameleon blended him nearly unnoticeably with his surroundings. Perhaps he didn’t need to do as much with the power of Unnoticeable, but Basem did not take chances.
The vaguest hint of mana washed over him again and flowed past without issue. A radar of some kind, Basem guessed but given that the shadowhunter had made no moves afterwards, the Nondetection spell Jean cast on him before must be working. Still, Basem changed his location, carefully and swiftly.
Basem scanned the area from Vantage Point up high, and found no sign of his enemy, just as before. As even his Truesight gave no benefit, he deduced she must have a similar ability as he did, a fact that only made him more wary. This game of hunting had gone on for some time now, without a single encounter. But he knew how this game ends. The first to fool the other wins.
Basem nocked an arrow that turned transparent between his fingers and loosed. The arrow curved around blindspots created by the formations of buildings straight into a window, the shatter of glass echoing loudly in the silent warzone. And a black arrow pierced straight through the house he crouched behind, just barely grazing the back of his head.
Basem blinked twice in rapid succession and held still in hiding behind a broken wall, adrenaline quickening his breath and breaking a cold sweat in frustrated tension. The bang of a rifle echoed in his mind. Basem grit his teeth and broke into a covert sprint, aiming for a better position as memories from the past refused to banish from his mind no matter how hard he tried.
Basem laid prone in the sweltering heat of the desert, the clothes he donned and the print of his gun matching the sand and beige stone of his surroundings, the same clothes that the bloodied bodies around him wore. All of them children, some nearly adults, some of them even younger than him.
Labored breath pained his dry throat and the heat baring down on him sapped the clarity of his vision with every passing minute, but still he kept his sights firmly trained on just one spot. He had missed before. If he missed again, he likely wouldn’t get a third chance.
Time dragged on but Basem stayed as he was, dispelling the doubts, the pain, the fear. He banished all thoughts from his mind as he kept his sights firmly trained. Finally a flash of movement caught his eye, then a man poke his head out to scan through the scope, and Basem pulled the trigger.
Noise rang in his ears but the man’s head snapped back with a spurt of blood silently within his scope, and Basem rolled over to his back against the wall breathing harder than ever in equal parts relief and frustration. But he rested only a moment before pushing himself to his feet and combing over the bodies of the others. His eyes lingered for a moment but quickly he started to gather their cantons, filling his own up with what they had left to spare, and started his trek back to the base.
“East route’s clear. Might get some noise from the south but we’re good to go. Just need their approval.”
“Aye. I’ll let them whinge for a bit then smooth things over.” A middle aged man with a goatee spoke without much concern. “Get us a static security job next, ay? Too much pest control lately.”
“I’ll see what there is.”
“Boss.” Another armed man alerted Wallace to the presence of Basem, recently returned, worn in body and mind but his eyes still piercing sharp.
“Status?”
“Dead.” Basem answered bluntly and no more than he needed to.
A grin spread on Wallace’s face. “Gear up! We leave in 15!” Wallace ordered the others and they got to work. A heavy hand landed on Basem’s shoulder as Wallace walked past. “Get some food and join ‘em. I’ll reward you properly later.”
Basem stayed where he was, head tilted down to the floor as anger strained his expression further, the same that now painted his face in the city of vampires. He would not be hunted. He would not be at the mercy of others.
The strider nocked an arrow and rushed out into the open, loosing an arrow that struck back with a force of unnatural recoil, propelling him out of the path of a shadowy arrow before he even realized it was fired. But his focus was on the source and he Sniped a powerful shot without hesitation.
Stone shattered in its wake and the shadowhunter emerged as she shifted around it. Basem focused his skill and a mark appeared on her body, Greater Hunter’s Mark, and through it he could tell where she was at all times. The huntress slipped through shadows and Basem pursued.
Arrow after arrow bored through building and stone but none struck their target, the shadowhunter too swift and too adept at predicting his shots. Basem fired again, this time the raw potency diminished but its path twisted and turned unpredictably straight towards the shadowhunter’s head, and she slipped it effortlessly.
Basem clicked his teeth. Snipe was too straight forward and Greater Guided Arrow lacked the power and speed to land. He nocked three arrows and burst towards the huntress, ignoring every urge to remain at a distance. He blinked through her shadow arrow that sailed faster that he could move and fired.
The shrapnel of three Greater Buckshots shredded the huntress apart along with the ground she stood on, and her form faded in the wind. Basem had barely the time to realize before he felt danger at his back, as Bernadette the shadowhunter rose from the dark behind, aiming a black arrow at his head.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
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The land cracked and thundered from the titanic brawl between the two amazons. Karla slipped under a vicious maul and a flickering jab snapped back the head of towering man. Greater Concuss robbed him of his senses long enough for the kick that followed to crash clean on the side of his head.
The skin of half his face burst and his skull beneath cracked deeply as he spun off balance, and a sudden back kick struck Karla’s guard. The flesh of her arms obliterated to nothing and her bones fractured, but they reset and healed in an instant, just as the man’s wounds had, and she burst back into range.
The two traded crushing blows with abandon, showing neither fear nor hesitation. But the longer the brawl continued, the more apparent two facts became. One, Karla was the superior martial artist, in all aspects and measures. And two, mythic tier Tempered Bones was not the equal of Indestructible.
The werewolf’s Crush inflicted as much damage on her as her Savagery enhanced Crush did on him. Should this remain, Karla’s mana and aura reserves would run dry before his and yet, ‘unwavering’ did not do justice to the icy blue haired amazon’s eyes. She desired the peril, and saw nothing but the victory that laid behind.
“This fight will end like the last.” Gordon spoke as they traded mortal wounds. “Outsider. None of this is your concern. You have no reason to fight. No purpose.”
His fist shattered the front of her skull, and before it healed, she slammed her head into his. Karla parried away his trailing maul and caved in his chest with a stomp kick. Gordon crashed through the wall of a building and burst back through the rubble, his solemn expression starting to tense with rage.
“What can you do?! With nothing to drive you?!” A flurry of heavy blows forced Karla on the defensive. “You fight for nothing!”
Karla took a crushing blow to the face and a spinning hammer fist returned on Gordon’s. He faced forward and the blur of a jumping elbow sent him crashing away as Karla pursued. More than unwavering resolve, more than unrelenting fortitude, her very being intensified with each bloody moment with the pure love of beautiful violence. A savage artist.
Fur coated Gordon’s body in an instant as he took the form of a werewolf with a devastating howl. And Karla’s flying knee concussed him once more, his mental attack wasted on her. A clawed hand grasped her leg as Gordon slumped back, and hurled her away with a sudden spin, a dozen houses demolished in her wake.
Gordon lunged like a rabid beast, a clawed maul slashing through her armorous bones. A crushing kick damaged his side as his sharp fangs ripped out a chunk of her neck. A second kick landed on his side without hesitation. A jab paused his thoughts and a third kick finally broke through, exposing his ribs and organs.
Gordon swiped her away as his wounds healed and sprinted after her, lunging from building to building on all fours. He blitzed around Karla, faster and more versatile as her Body Flicker would allow, slashing and mauling away as he razed past without pause. Karla dodged and blocked and countered but the werewolf bloodied her more than she did him. And still her eager smile remained. Still the depth in her eyes swelled without need for words.
Gordon slashed across her face, and her wounds did not heal. In an instant, Gordon’s eyes sharpened, and he lunged. Karla swayed away from the thrusting palm, much slower than she had, but she read his attack as clear as day and connected a kick that crashed the beast away.
But Gordon returned, and his controlled ferocity carved and ripped away at her bit by bit. And still Karla’s eyes deepened. Her blood spilt. Her flesh tore. Her bones broke. And still she fought without hesitation as the sensation of victory felt closer than ever. Gordon rammed her away with immense speed and power more so that he had shown thus far. The stone streets beneath her shattered and cratered as she crashed away and parted in fragments as she dug her feet in to regain her stance.
And Gordon was upon her. In the slow of of a heightened state, his maul moved for the killing blow, faster than she could avoid. And Karla let out a deep red breath, falling shards of light followed. Maul shattered the greater bastion protecting her face as she let the impact spin her away still in stance, both actions dampening the blow enough for her to survive.
The werewolf lunged again and Karla leaned back, kicking him up in the air with the surge of dynamic. The amazoness followed, sprinting up the air in large steps to the flailing creature. Gordon grit his fangs and swiped at her with his raw power and quickly realized his mistake as his arm parried away and Karla drew closer.
Gordon shielded his vitals with thick furred arms, biding his time to reach the ground again, and Karla unleashed a flurry of devastating blows, each with the power of savagery enhanced Crush as destructive as before. Gordon’s arms were pulverized to tatters and his torso and face followed before he snapped out of shock, mauling Karla with both arms, sending her cratering back down.
And Karla burst back up, part of her skull exposed and one arm missing from the forearm. Karla flickered around Gordon in the air, snapping at any openings he showed. Three Crushes landed in erratic exchanges and Karla let a claw severing through the edge of her side as she landed a Dynamic fist, sending the werewolf back up.
Desperation found Gordon’s movements as he lashed out more thoroughly against her, giving no opening until they hit the ground. Karla’s feet hit the ground first and timed another crushing kick perfectly at the lunging werewolf.
A block of stone broke against the amazoness’ fist and more followed in rapid succession as the werewolf raced around her hurling all manner of debris. Each and every lethal projectile was smashed, parried, or weathered with Bastion as Karla used her skills endless, drawing as much aura through her breath as she needed.
Gordon swung his fist and blast a house in parts towards her. And Karla stepped into the storm of rubble, blocking and swatting everything in her path away. And Gordon lunged through its cover. Karla slipped under his palm again but this time he predicted as much, his second hand clawing up straight at her path.
And Karla stunted her movements, the werewolf’s claws only slicing the surface of her face as her own fist landed clean on his jaw. A crushing kick stirred Gordon from his stupor only for another enhanced Concuss to stagger him once more. Gordon’s body burst and healed in a rapid cycle of skills despite his fierce resistance until finally, his wounds stopped healing.
The werewolf’s power remained, but his speed slowed with the loss of Greater Swiftness, just as Karla’s had, and the amazoness surged with even greater brutality. Her eyes shuddered and hazed over as the strain on her mind and being grew and grew but she ignored it just as she did the damage to her body.
Blood poured and flesh and bone vanished from Gordon’s body as Karla’s strikes ate away at him. Gordon raged in between bouts of unconsciousness. He rallied and angered and resolved to no avail, and eventually he despaired. A fist finally broke through to his brain and for him the world went dark.
The werewolf slumped to the ground, and Karla stood over, stomping again and again until his head was completely destroyed, and at last she had victory. In her daze, Karla spared the man not a single glance more as she started walking towards the castle, and fell flat on her face.
Her mind muddied and blurred to the point she could barely form a thought. Her body was numb, and the familiar pain of her weakened soul on the verge of breaking ached. She willed herself up but not even a finger moved, and then the strain claimed her consciousness, leaving her bleeding out in the wreck of a city.