Behind him, a hundred foot wide crater bared its fangs hungrily at the sky, filled with ash and burst bone. In the center, Hugo Mar lay, still alive. The man was mortally wounded, but as Sam watched through blurry eyes, he could see a wave of dark power entering the man’s body as patching up his wounds. Sam gritted his teeth. He could not succumb to sleep now, no matter how much his body yearned to rest. There was no defeating Hugo Mar, that much was certain. All he could do at this point was to get his allies out of the city.
As Sam fell, he channeled his power into himself, starting to enhance his body. At this point, with all of his enhancements active, he could survive a fall of this height. The human body could only fall so fast after all, no matter the height. Sam tumbled through the air, almost floating on the wind as he fell. He was high up enough to reach terminal velocity, but to his enhanced senses, it felt as if he was moving in slow motion.
As he approached the ground, Sam did a forwards flip, and braced for impact. If he had been in peak condition, this fall would barely have hurt him, but seeing as he was still quite injured, he would need to be cautious. Most of the injuries were in his torso however, and as long as he landed on his feet, it would be fine.
A few seconds later, he hit the ground. Sam crashed through the roof of a small building, flexing his knees as he landed. As he fell, a cloud of debris billowed up around him, cloaking his landing from anyone watching. Sam grunted as he made contact with the ground, the air rushing out of his lungs as he hit. He had come at a slight angle, and as a result he felt a sharp twinge in his chest from the landing.
Shaking his head, Sam straightened up and started running out of the building. His body was coursing with adrenaline, and he knew that if he did not make it to his friends before Hugo Mar awoke, then they would all be dead. As soon as he reached the street, Sam ran like he had never ran before. All of his muscles burned as he eked out every last bit of energy that he could from them, propelling him at hundreds of miles per hour down the street. His passing stirred up dust clouds as he went, and if not for his Girdings of the Arbiter skill, his already damaged bones would have been nothing but dust by then.
Up ahead, about a dozen Legion soldiers rounded the corner, pointing their guns at Sam. Sam did not slow down as he approached, instead ducking and weaving around the attacks. The shots themselves were too fast for him to dodge properly, at least in his weakened state, but he could predict the trajectory of them from the movements of their wielders. With a bounding leap, Sam cleared the group and was on his way, barreling down the street. His stamina bar was dropping at a prodigious rate, and he was already approaching the halfway mark.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Gritting his teeth, Sam kept moving. The bomb that he had used had been unexpectedly powerful, and it had sent him a fair distance away from its origin point. Sam raced down the streets, ignoring the many units of soldiers that tried to waylay him. He was too fast to be delayed much by their attacks, and as a result he reached his target within a few minutes. The massive crater lay there like a gaping maw, with Hugo Mar still in the center. A vast cloud of darkness hovered over it, and the man was almost completely healed from the damage he had suffered. Swallowing nervously, Sam ran past him and towards the forms of his friends. They were still lying on the ground beyond the crater, and so far nothing had tried to attack them. A greedy part of him wanted to kill Hugo Mar there and then, while he was vulnerable, but the more rational part of him urged him to reconsider. As a result, Sam made a compromise.
While running, Sam charged up one of his Anger’s Reach attacks, and sent it whirling towards Hugo Mar. He looked around for a brief moment as it flew, watching as it struck home. All that happened was that the cloud of darkness swallowed the attack up like it had been nothing. In fact, it seemed to have grown even stronger from the energy. Shuddering, Sam snapped his eyes back at his target.
As he neared them, he took the ship out of his pocket and threw it to the ground, infusing it with his mana at a desperate rate. The vessel expanded to its full size in less than a second. Sam ran past it, and scooped up his allies, running back towards the front of the ship. Gunfire from the Legion raked across the ground in front of him, but Sam was able to dodge most of it. The few shots that struck him were of little to no consequence. Sam ran up the ramp with the others under his arms, and bellowed at the ship controller.
“Get us the hell out of here! Now!”
The hatch slid shut with a loud clang, and the ship started to vibrate. Sam dashed over to the seats and strapped the others in as best he could. As he did so, he could hear projectiles skittering off of the ship’s hull. As soon as he was done, he strapped himself in, just in time for the ship to take off. They were up into the clouds a few seconds later, and Sam let out a sigh of relief. Against all odds, they had escaped.
A moment later, the ship rocked violently, a large dent forming in the bottom. Sam jolted upright and cursed. It seemed that Hugo Mar had finally recovered. The ship started twisting from side to side, trying to avoid all of the attacks. A few more whistled by, flying off into the clouds. A roaring hum began to rise from behind the ship, and Sam could hear something that sounded like the beating of titanic wings. He was tempted to open the hatch to see what was out there, but he quashed the desire. He already knew who it was. All that he could do was hope and pray that the ship was fast enough to escape.