Thanks to Shine’s support, Ezekiel was able to increase his speed even more than before. To the point where he could move at a pace just as fast as the standard Legendary Hunter. With this in mind, it wasn’t that surprising when Ezekiel managed to get them to a small village along the road running through the Fjorya.
Previously, he and Riley had been avoiding such places. Focusing purely on their mission and keeping to the wilderness to ensure that their operations were unknown outside the Cult. But, given the fact that they were a couple days ahead with their quota, Ezekiel felt that they needed to take a break and regroup.
Especially since their continued presence in the wilderness was fraying his nerves due to the bad omen he had been feeling. Though the new plan he had come up with distinctly lacked said bad omen.
“We’ll head back out tonight.” Ezekiel finished his plate as Riley took a long drink from her cup. “Did you manage to get the supplies I listed?”
“Yes. I got a few weird looks when I explained the bullets you mentioned. But it was easy enough to get a large number made.” Riley placed the pouch that Ezekiel gave her onto the table.
Grabbing it, Ezekiel examined the contents. Inside were several hundred streamlined bullets, as well as several hollow steel orbs. Since he wasn’t able to do any enchanting right now, the hollow orbs, when mixed with his and Riley’s magic, would work as their new grenades.
Ezekiel sat silently as he thought about whether or not his next plan would work. They only had a day or so before they needed to kill more Cultists. If they failed, then they would have to rush back to the direction of the haven as soon as possible. Else their group be kicked out.
Although, besides the few sightings Ezekiel had of Legendary Spirits watching them, there was little he could do to actually find his way to the haven. Only by making their way back to one of their drop-off points would that be possible. The no longer had a direct and loyal watcher, after all.
Glancing at his partner, Ezekiel saw that Riley was trying to avoid looking at him but kept glazing at him out of the corner of her eye as she ate.
“What is it?”
Riley paused for a moment before replying.
“I guess... I’d like to know why we’re really here. That’s all...” Riley trailed off and returned to her meal. “It was fairly abrupt when you said that we needed to head to the closest town. It took hours at your fastest enhanced speed to get here. I know you said it was to restock, but it seems to me like we’ll be cutting it close if we want to finish our mission.”
Ezekiel cautiously looked around. There were no other Legendaries nearby. He and Riley had also done their best to conceal themselves in a manner that wasn’t suspicious. But he still didn’t want anybody listening in on them.
‘Could you throw up a barrier to block out the noise? I’ll put a bauble on the table, so any observers think it’s an Artifact that’s doing it.’ Ezekiel mentally sent his request to Shine. He had to suppress his joy at the fact that he could do that. Even though it had been a while now, he still loved the fact that he could silently communicate with his Spirit once more.
Shine didn’t bother replying, and simply put the barrier up as Ezekiel placed a carved piece of stone on the table. It did absolutely nothing, but no one would know that unless they got their hands on it.
Riley noticed the change immediately and sat up straighter to focus on what Ezekiel was about to say. His actions were more than enough to tell her that this was going to be important.
“As you might’ve guessed, thanks to Shine’s breakthrough, I’ve partially recovered my soul. Thanks to this, and the restored awareness of my bond, a certain ability has returned in full.” Ezekiel stared directly into Riley’s eyes as he spoke. “As you know, all Mages can sense things unique to their element. For Void Mages, that sense seems to be connected to danger, or at least it is for me.”
Ezekiel had told Riley a fair bit about what he and Shine were able to do as Void Mages, but the danger sense wasn’t something he specifically explained to many. It was too valuable to let possible enemies be aware.
“In this case, I started feeling a negative premonition a little while ago. But it only pops up when I think about attacking any more of the bases in the wilderness. I think that this means that the Cult has doubled, or otherwise increased their reinforcements.”
Riley looked shocked but didn’t say anything to dispute Ezekiel’s words.
“If that’s the case, then what are we going to do?” Riley asked.
“Well, I figured that, if hitting the bases in the wilderness wasn’t a good idea, then maybe we can hit them on the road. Specifically, we’ll attack one of the returning caravans when they pass through this, or another, village.”
“How do you know that they’ll pass through anytime soon?”
“You saw all the empty cages in that one base, right? That means that they need to either restock or bring back their captives. Probably within the next few days.”
Riley seemed to be wary of Ezekiel’s plan. But she was well aware of how much of a death trap it would be to face the Cult when outnumbered by Legendaries.
“What if there’s no Cultists passing through?”
“It’s not as if we’ll be sitting around waiting for them. We’ll be hunting them properly as well.”
This time Riley nodded. Ezekiel knew that neither he nor Riley were especially skilled in hunting. At least, not outside sweeping searches near and around a location on a map. But in this case, it was mostly just going up and down a road. So, it was well within their capabilities.
“The odds are high they’ll also be wearing their colors openly as well. They’ve taken control of this particular route, so they don’t have anything to hide.” Ezekiel further explained. “Given the requirements of the Spirits, there shouldn’t be any problems with this plan. Especially if we can take them out and free any Spirits that they have captive.”
Riley began to look surer of herself as Ezekiel continued. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down in thought. She mentally went through what possibilities she could think of. Going through all the information she had available regarding their skills and the Cult’s operations.
Ezekiel left her to think. He honestly welcomed any arguments she might have and was happy to see that she wasn’t simply going along with his words like she had previously.
“I... can’t really think of any better for us to do. Especially if you’re certain the Cult has something planned for us.” Riley finally said.
“Then in that case, let’s enjoy the rest of our dinner, and get ready for tonight.” Ezekiel mentally nudged Shine to drop the barrier and waved down a waitress to order some more.
They weren’t likely to spend much more time in this village. So, he and Riley wanted to get as much of a good and hearty meal as they could. Before they got to work.
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It was late at night when Ezekiel and Riley headed out. Using Shine’s extended ‘Jump’ range, they managed to go directly from their shared room at the inn, to well outside the village's borders.
Dashing through the forest towards the direction of Tarquessa, Ezekiel and Riley didn’t bother with a Shroud for the moment. There was little need until they got closer to a target. Though they did ensure that they were totally covered by their new disguises.
Given their current position in the middle of the Fjorya, it would take nearly a day, even with Ezekiel’s top speed, to actually enter the desert. With so much ground to cover, Ezekiel knew that they needed to search as quickly as they could. If they didn’t, it was highly likely that they would lose this opportunity, should it actually exist, of course.
The lack of premonition was a good thing though. Ezekiel took it to mean that there were no particular forces that would be a threat to them.
They ended up going for nearly an hour. Sticking close enough to the main road to be able to sense any possible travelers that might’ve been moving.
While it was more likely that any Cult forces were already resting in another village or town, Ezekiel didn’t think that such a thing was the case in this situation.
Moving through an official town with captured Spirits wouldn’t be easy. Even if the Cult had full control of Tarquessa, which Ezekiel somewhat doubted, the Fjorya wasn’t technically under the control of either the Empire, or the various factions of Tarquessa.
For the most part, the villages and towns were under the watch and guardianship of the various clans and tribes that made their homes deeper in the wilderness of the mountains. Much like the Feather Peaks Tribe would watch over caravans traveling either way from a distance.
‘I wonder if this road also has a Tribe that watches over it.’ Ezekiel internally pondered while allowing Shine to hear his thoughts. ‘It would make sense. But I know nothing of the tribes in the middle areas of the mountains. Hell, I don’t even know the tribes that border the Feathered Peaks.’
‘You have the Feathered Peaks badge of friendship though. So, I don’t think it will be that big of an issue. For all we know, it’s the tribes that have been trying to fight off the Cult.’ Shine did their best to calm Ezekiel’s worries. ‘The Spirit territory rulers might not be able to pass through places freely, but the human tribes that are allied to them might.’
‘If that were true, then I don’t think they’d be trying to use us to help them. The tribes should’ve been more than enough. Unless there’s something bigger going on, and we’re just a distraction.’
Shine didn’t have anything to say in response. Ezekiel wasn’t wrong in his assumptions regarding the tribe’s power. They had successfully made it too bothersome for either the Empire or the forces of Tarquessa to even try conquering the Fjorya for centuries.
The mental silence remained for a short time, as both Hunter and Spirit pondered these new possibilities. But it wasn’t long before they had to slow down. Ezekiel’s enhanced eyesight saw an area coming up that was somewhat brighter than the forest around it.
He couldn’t see the flickering of fire light just yet, but he could tell that a campsite was coming up. Roughly a few hundred meters away. Stopping and letting Riley get down, she and Ezekiel began a much more cautious approach.
Since Shine couldn’t use their Shroud to cover them all for a long period of time, they decided to try a more normal approach. Though Ezekiel did suggest that Riley stay back until he started the fight.
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Sneaking forward, only donning Shine’s Shroud when he got within a hundred meters, Ezekiel continued creeping forward. Getting within ten meters, Ezekiel saw the familiar cloaks of the Cult. A trio of Adepts sat around a fire while a handful of others slept in tents. There were no cages filled with Spirits.
Though Ezekiel did notice that there was an empty tent whose occupant was unaccounted for. Likely meaning that there was another Cultist that was scouting the area. Given that the Cultists that were all Adepts, Ezekiel hoped that the one that wasn’t present wasn’t a Legendary. But he knew that there was no one else that would be powerful enough to safely scout an area like this.
Worse yet, there was a high chance that the moment he came out of Shine’s Shroud to attack the Legendary would be there to retaliate. Ezekiel paused to try and figure out what to do.
‘...Save your mana. We’re gonna need it.’ Ezekiel finally decided that he would go through with his attack. Hopefully, so long as he and Shine retained as much mana as possible, then they might be able to fight off the Legendary Cultist with Riley’s help.
If they couldn’t, then hopefully Ezekiel would be able to pick up Riley and still be able to run away.
‘Understood.’ Shine replied as Ezekiel tensed up.
Leaping forward at the Cultists around the fire, Ezekiel sliced through two of them in an instant. Shine’s blade cut through the Spirit sitting next to one of the Cultists. Seeing the last still waking Cultist sitting around the fire, Ezekiel moved to take another Swing. But a blade of wind knocked him backward.
Ezekiel slammed into a nearby tree as he was blown off his feet. The enchantments on his clothing were able to mitigate some of the damage from the wind blade. But even so, he still felt his chest split open as a red line extended down his chest. A tear appeared on his coat and shirt.
A figure previously unseen by Ezekiel landed on the ground in front of him. Clad in gray highlighted Cult cloaks, Ezekiel sensed the aura of a Legendary Tempest Hunter. One that was at least a Step above him and Riley.
“It seems like my colleagues were incorrect in their assumptions. A shame. It would’ve been nice if you had simply fallen for our trap. You’ve been quite the thorn in our side these past few months.”
Ezekiel was confused for a second. He and Riley had only been at this for a couple of weeks at most. Not the months that the Legendary Cultist was saying they’d been working for.
He didn’t let his confusion show, however, since he knew that letting the Cult know that more people were fighting them was a bad idea. Though he did wonder why the groups they had attacked so far didn’t seem aware of any other forces attacking them.
“A man of few words. Such a shame. But I guess we’ll just have to loosen your tongue later.” The Legendary Cultist muttered as a gust of wind picked up. Her cloak fluttered about, and the Cultists figure was seen. Sparkling gray armor with a hummingbird motif armor was now visible.
Ezekiel didn’t stop to admire what he saw, however, as he could see the Adepts behind her preparing to support their leader in this fight.
But Ezekiel didn’t need to worry too much. It seemed that his lack of answer and the current standoff was paying off. As he saw a spear of blue fire came blazing through the forest. It managed to strike two of the Cultists, blowing up on impact, and badly burned another with its heat. Leaving only two Adepts still alive, with one of them injured.
“What-”
Ezekiel took the chance to attack while the Legendary Cultist was distracted by Riley. Launching himself forward, he thrust Shine’s point directly at the Cultist’s chest. But it seemed like he still wasn’t an even match just yet.
He found Shine stuck in the air, not moving even an inch forward as a barrier of solid air formed a shield. The sudden jolt was enough to make Ezekiel’s bones rattle, and the impact was strong enough to create a shockwave that caused the Cultist to tilt backward.
Behind her, the Adepts were nearly blown off their feet. Their Spirits sent their own attacks at Riley as she came into view. Celia, firmly attached to Riley’s shoulder, breathed fire at the screaming and flailing Adepts.
“Raaaggghhh!” The Legendary Cultist screamed, sending a wave of wind that would’ve sent Ezekiel flying if he and Shine hadn’t redirected the force with their own spell.
Instead, the two pushed forward, causing the Cultist to slide backward, but even as Shine channeled their mana, they couldn’t directly cut through the barrier the Cultist had formed. Ezekiel immediately began dispersing the mana making the barrier with his ‘Nothingness’ but it was slow.
The Legendary Cultist quickly noticed her mana dispersing, and before Shine could pierce through her barrier, the Cultist threw herself to the side faster than Ezekiel could move. He nearly stumbled as Shine cut through thin air, and all resistance disappeared.
Taking the chance for what it was, Ezekiel tumbled into a roll, where he came up and bisected the Adept that was closest to him. Shine cut through his body with little to no resistance as the Adept level Enchantments that were actively being reinforced still failed to stop the Legendary blade.
While this was happening, Riley was blown backward as the Legendary Cultist sent a ball of compressed air towards her. It exploded on impact, which Ezekiel assumed the Cultist thought would buffet the fires and cause them to go out.
This didn’t happen, as Riley’s Flames were reinforced, and seemed to be a mix of blue and green. Which Ezekiel didn’t know the true properties of, but it clearly supported the flames, as they simply spread outwards alongside the wind.
Waving her hands, Riley directed the significantly hotter flames towards the last Adept, burning him to a crisp. Now, with only one target left, Ezekiel and Riley focused fully on the Tempest Cultist.
Ezekiel contorted his body to avoid a horizontal tornado that managed to cut up his clothes even more. Reinforcing his body, he managed to avoid getting eviscerated. But the force of the mana was still enough to cause damage.
For a second, Ezekiel considered running. They had essentially gotten two more days in the haven, but even though the life of a Legendary wasn’t worth any more than an Adept or an Apprentice, taking out a Legendary would probably be worth it. At least, it would be so long as they both lived.
Riley sent out a lashing whip of blue fire that seared its way through the Cultist’s cloak. The burnt cloth let off wisps of smoke as The Cultist was forced to dodge. Unfortunately, her retaliation was no weaker than any of her previous attacks.
The difference in Step within Tier four was just too much for Riley and Ezekiel to overcome at the moment. Especially since it was Shine that had access to Legendary Void Man.
Suddenly, the Cultist threw her hands outwards, and a massive tornado formed around the three of them. For a moment, the blue fires coming from Riley seemed to ride the wind, spreading further and higher as the wind picked up.
If it wasn’t for Riley still controlling them to not harm her allies, Ezekiel was certain that he would’ve suffered severe burns at this point.
But the fire didn’t last long. Ezekiel was finding it hard to breathe, and Riley seemed to have it far worse with her weaker constitution. It was clear to Ezekiel that the Cultist was making a vacuum to suck out the air in the area. He knew he couldn’t let her keep this up.
Though, he was surprised to find that the area wasn’t as uncomfortable to him as he thought it would be.
‘Full mana! We need to cut her down!’ Ezekiel mentally screamed at Shine.
He followed this command by focusing as much mana as he could through his body. His Spirit Pathways burned as he pushed himself to the limit. Shine began to glow as Riley fell over. The lack of oxygen finally got to her. Celia stood atop Riley’s form as she grew to a larger size to protect her partner as best that she could.
The Cultist, however, seemed to falter and nearly recoiled in shock.
“Anathema!”
Ezekiel ignored her outraged and horrified scream as he disappeared. The lack of air being the only reason the crack of a broken sound barrier didn’t appear due to how fast he moved.
The tornado around them abruptly disappeared as the Cultist dropped the wide range spell.
A barrier of solid air once more appeared in front of her as she held her hands forward. Blocking Ezekiel and Shine once again, but this time she was straining far more visibly, as Ezekiel had been focusing his ‘Nothingness’, ‘Force’, and ‘Compression’ to increase his own attack, and decrease the Cultist’s. But it clearly wasn’t enough.
Another shockwave spread outwards, but Ezekiel didn’t have time to react as the Cultist moved out of the way. The mana still flooding his body allowed him to turn and put pressure on the Cultist. But only for a moment as she flew into the air.
Staring up into the night sky, Ezekiel could clearly see the cultist gazing down at him. Her chest heaving in and out as her breathing became heavy. Something Ezekiel mirrored, as the exertion on them both had been great.
‘If only I could don your Spirit Armor...’ Ezekiel lamented as he felt his body fill with fatigue.
Shine didn’t reply with words. But Ezekiel could feel their disappointment with themself.
“You... I don’t know how you managed to regain any of your magic, but by the Light of Radiance, you will not leave here alive!” The Cultist dove directly at Ezekiel, who barely managed to raise Shine up to black. A pair of daggers now in each of the Cultist’s hands.
‘Arg!’ Shine screamed in pain as cracks appeared on their blade.
Ezekiel pulled back, and side stepped an attack. His body was still significantly stronger than the Cultist’s. A pair of wind blades flew from the Cultist’s daggers. A red ‘X’ appeared on his chest to go with the cut that was already there.
Given that he and Shine were basically out of mana at this point. The only amount that remained after their attack in the tornado was the little that they hadn’t channeled out of fear of self-destruction. But it wasn’t enough for them to do more than a short range ‘Jump’ at that point. In fact, given the amount of mana they had used to block that recent strike, they probably couldn’t even ‘Jump’ anymore.
The Cultist began moving in circles around Ezekiel. Kicking up a gust of wind as she moved.
Ezekiel soon found his clothes being torn to shreds as dozens of wind blades bombarded his body. His natural toughness was only barely holding him together. But blood was quickly staining his clothes as the enchantments finally failed in full. The only thing that was still covered was his head, which he had been protecting to the best of his abilities.
Finally, Ezekiel fell to the ground, no longer able to hold himself up. But even so, the Cultist still didn’t get back into melee range. Instead, she stood several feet away. Well outside of Shine’s reach.
Had they enough mana, Ezekiel and Shine might’ve tried to send a Void Cutter at the Cultist. But they knew that such an attack wouldn’t work. The Spirit armor of a Legendary Hunter was too strong for such a spell to work unless fully powered.
“You are a tough one. I now understand why the Lights of Radiance want you dead so badly.”
Ezekiel didn’t reply. He had lost enough blood by this point that he was barely keeping conscious.
‘Ezekiel! We need to go! I might be able to Jump us away! Just let me-’
Shine tried their best to ‘Jump’ themself and Ezekiel away, but all that did was cause the cracks on their body to glow slightly. They were out of mana, and Ezekiel’s endurance was gone.
“I will cut off your head and bring it to the Light. I’m sure my reward will be grand!” The Cultist raised her hand. Mana focused to a thin point that would clearly be enough to cut through even Ezekiel’s incredibly toughened body. Regardless of how little mana the Cultist had left.
But before that could happen, a lance of blue fire shot towards her from the side. The bright blue light gave her just enough time to bring the blade down to cut through it. But the nature of the spell meant that it simply split into two. The two, now smaller, spears pierced into the Cultist’s sides. Only a few inches deep, but that was enough. As she fell to the side. The fire seemingly spread up and through her body.
Ezekiel turned to the side to see Riley, on her hands and knees, with a hand extended forward. Her body was propped up against Celia, and Ezekiel could tell that they were both entirely tapped for mana. Neither one had even a single mote left as far as he could tell. Not beyond what was used to maintain Celia’s body, at least.
Riley’s face was exhausted, and it was clear that she had only recently awoken from falling unconscious. But just as Ezekiel was about to say his thanks, Riley’s face turned pale, her eyes went wide, and she opened her mouth to scream.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ezekiel saw the Cultist rise up. Her armor faded away as a small bird shaped Spirit hovered over her shoulder. The mana maintaining the Armor had been retracted for active use. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to forcibly disperse the flaming Spears in her sides.
One of the Cultist’s daggers was raised into the air, poised to strike and cut through his neck. The Cultist had moved up to strike him directly. He was too tired and injured to do anything at this point. Especially since the Cultist’s wariness was gone.
The world seemed to slow down for Ezekiel, everything turned to a perfectly clear focus as the dagger came down toward him.
Only for another dagger to fly through the air, carried by Tempest mana, and cut through the Cultist’s forehead, and exit through the back. A second dagger accompanied it and cut the little hummingbird shaped Spirit in half.
As the world sped back up for Ezekiel, he turned his head to the air behind him. Barely remaining on his hands and knees as he saw a figure clad in gray bird motif Spirit armor. A set that he could swear was familiar, but he just couldn’t place it. Though that could be because he was dizzy and drowsy from blood loss.
The figure landed, walking up to Ezekiel slowly, but Riley had climbed to her feet and stood in front of him alongside Celia. The figure paused before speaking.
“If I was actually here to hurt you, I think that walking up to you like this would be pointless.”
Ezekiel could swear that he recognized that voice but couldn’t place it. Shine was in the same boat, and they were far more focused than Ezekiel at the moment.
“I see you made good use of my badge, kid. Though, I hadn’t expected to see you anywhere near here.” The figure allowed his helmet to fade away, leaving his head unprotected. “It seems like we have a similar job, though it’s clear that you’ve had far more difficulty than me.”
Seeing the man’s face, Shine now recognized the figure, even as Ezekiel finally lost his hold on the waking world.
‘Talon!’
Shine’s shocked exclamation was the last thing Ezekiel heard before falling unconscious. But for the most part, the worries he felt faded away. He just hoped that he wouldn’t be out for too long. There was still work to be done, after all.