March 23rd

Year 2120

South of the Village of Berken

Kingdom of Fergahn, Gartaena

Merdilen made sure his glove’s compartments were full of sand, gripped his black sword tight, and rushed the shadow monster. He thrust his blade directly into the massive beast’s side with what became a direct hit, but even though Merdilen put his whole strength into it, the blade penetrated only about ten inches into the monster’s thick and resistant skin. Against a human, that would’ve been a lot, but against this massive shadow monster, it seemed like it did nothing at all. The shadow monster looked at him suddenly, and roaring, attacked with a giant clawed paw towards Merdilen.

Merdilen raised his black sword clumsily, and blocked the slash just in time. He never had and never would use permanently a shield or another sword, because that would occupy both his hands and would refrain him from Transmutating, stripping him from his biggest skill. But there was something else he could do now. Something he had thought about a while ago. When fighting against the bandits and against the killers, he had never wanted to kill them if he had a choice, because, no matter what their intentions were, they were as human as he was.

But this monster was different. He wouldn’t limit himself now. He concentrated on his black sword to Transmutate it, and it burst into flames. It was extremely hot blue fire, circling around the black sword but not burning anything else. He slashed again at the shadow monster, and this time, the blade bit deep. It caused a long cut along the monster’s side and made the shadow monster roar once again, but this time in pain. Merdilen quickly slashed again, this time vertically, forming a deep cross in the shadow monster’s side.

But, even though the shadow monster was clearly damaged, it wasn’t relenting or showing any signs of weaknesses. It was acting exactly the same as at the beginning of the fight. It turned suddenly to face Merdilen and jumped towards him, its massive jaw open wide. Merdilen instinctively took a step back, but he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to evade the attack. It was too quick and sudden, and because of the size of the shadow monster, he probably wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time. And he couldn’t try to block with his black sword either, because even though the blade itself was practically indestructible, the sheer strength of the shadow monster combined with its momentum would force his arm to give way, probably causing the beast to chomp Merdilen’s whole head out. There was no way out but forward.

Merdilen took a step forward towards the beast, preparing his left hand to punch the shadow monster with all his strength. Of course, his bare fist would do nothing against that monster, but that was what the Transmutation glove was for. He concentrated on the compacted sand filling the glove’s compartments and Transmutated. Out of the glove came massive steel spikes that covered his left hand, and he threw his punch with all his strength towards the shadow monster. The monster kept jumping towards him with his jaw open wide, and Merdilen punched directly into the beast’s mouth. The massive and sharp steel spikes cut cleanly through the monster’s mouth, and it jumped backwards, roaring louder than ever in pain.

Merdilen turned his glove’s steel spikes back into compacted sand in the compartments, but then heard something behind him. A crackling and roaring sound filled the air, and he looked backward, his eyes wide open. Because of his still-ablaze black sword, the massive tree behind him was now on fire. And he was in the middle of a forest. He looked quickly back and forth between the burning tree and the shadow monster, considering what to do.

He could attack the shadow monster now, and as the monster was still weak and groaning in pain from the spiked fist attack, it’d probably end the fight. But if he took the time to attack the monster, the fire would spread to the rest of the forest, including the village of Berken, which would render his efforts to save them from the shadow monster useless. He couldn’t allow that.

He put the flames of his black sword out, left it hanging from his belt, and ran to the burning tree. The tree itself was technically alive, so he wasn’t able to Transmutate it, but the tree bark wasn’t. He pressed with his both hands hard against the tree bark, and ignoring the burning heat, concentrated. Although he was touching it with both his hands, he had never Transmutated something so large. The tree was gigantic. He concentrated hard and Transmutated. Using his hands as an epicenter, the tree bark quickly and steadily started turning into freezing, cold, pure ice. The ice started putting the fire out as soon as the bark turned into ice, but it wasn’t quick enough.

After a few seconds, Merdilen heard a roar behind him, and a sharp and burning pain as the shadow monster slashed with his claws against his back. The claws bit deep and tore his flesh, making him hold back a scream. The impact almost threw him off his feet, but he managed to endure the pain and keep holding on to the tree. The tree bark kept freezing until, to Merdilen’s relief, the tree was completely covered in ice and the fire was no more.

Merdilen’s back hurt terribly, but he couldn’t afford to try and heal himself now, because he suspected healing that would take a while, and if the shadow monster attacked him again while he healed himself, it would do no good and just burn time. He stood in front of the tree and grabbed his black sword, bracing for the shadow monster’s attack. The monster charged him once again with his jaw open wide, but as he was now farther away, he was able to sidestep and evade the attack. But, with all the accumulated momentum, the monster couldn’t stop himself and crashed head-on into the massive tree. Of course, it wasn’t enough to topple the massive tree, as only the tree bark was ice, not the whole thing, but the ice was extremely slippery.

As the shadow monster didn’t hit the tree directly in the middle, it slipped because of the ice, and the momentum sent it tumbling to the side and into the ground. Merdilen, without missing a beat, rushed it, and jumped. As the monster was now prone, Merdilen was able to get on top of it, and before he fell, thrust his black sword down into the beast’s body. Merdilen put all his strength into his blade, and this time the blade bit deep. The monster roared, but as it was still stunned from the charge against the tree, it did nothing. Merdilen buried his black sword deep into the monster, and after roaring once more, it finally stayed still.

Merdilen sighed, and after turning his black sword back to a walking stick, fell to one knee on the ground. His back was bleeding badly, but he didn’t have the strength to heal himself yet. He stood on one knee on the ground, catching his breath, until he heard shouts from the north.

“This way!” he heard a man shout. “The roars were coming from over here!”

“Oh no,” muttered Merdilen. He tried to stand up by putting his weight into his walking stick, but the wounds in his back made his vision blur. He fell once again to one knee, and as he looked up, he saw several villagers running towards him.

“It’s the Transmutator!” another exclaimed while looking at fallen Merdilen and the dead shadow monster, making the rest gasp. “He was bringing a shadow monster to the village! He was trying to kill us all!”

“I wasn’t—” Merdilen muttered half-conscious, trying to explain. “I was trying to—”

“Shut up, you monster!” another villager yelled and hit him hard in the head with something he wasn’t able to see clearly because of his blurred vision. He fell backward, and he barely felt sharp pain when his wounded back hit the ground before he lost consciousness completely.

“The Transmutator has been captured,” the messenger told them, the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, while they rode towards Berken. “He was found gravely wounded after a fight with a seemingly rebel shadow monster he was taking to the village of Berken to slaughter the villagers. He is heavily chained and temporarily imprisoned in Arthol’s federal prison. The prison chief is waiting for the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team to arrive before they execute him, in fear he somehow escapes when they unchain him to execute him.”

“Thank you, sir,” Sir Grendar told the messenger. “We’ll take care of this.”

They had been riding towards the village of Berken for more than a day, but as they weren’t there yet, they were able to change course. The city of Arthol was southeast of the village of Berken, and therefore, it was closer to them that their original destination. Arthol wasn’t as big as Cornaler, the capital of the kingdom of Fergahn, but it was still way bigger than the village of Berken. As far as Kayline knew, the village of Berken had only a small cell, and it would never be enough to hold a Transmutator for more than a few minutes.

“The Transmutator was captured!” said Salvatore cheerfully. “Our work is done! We’ll get paid!”

“The Transmutator was captured,” pointed out Jarleren. “Not killed.”

“We may have new weapons, and he may be chained, but we mustn’t underestimate him,” agreed Sir Grendar. “As he was able to escape from us, it is strange he was suddenly captured, and we must accept he will probably try to escape, and that we will have to fight him once more.”

“Killjoy,” muttered Salvatore.

“Our work won’t be done until he is dead and we see and confirm it for ourselves,” scolded him Kayline. “And you shouldn’t say ‘Our work is done! We’ll get paid!,’ you should say ‘Our work is done! Mankind will be able to live in peace!’”

Salvatore looked at her irritated but said nothing. They kept riding towards the city of Arthol, ready to put an end to the Transmutator’s menace.

Merdilen woke up, and what he first felt was the soreness. His wrists and shins were extremely sore, and he felt like they were burning. He felt heavy iron shackles in his wrists and shins, stretching his body completely and hanging him in the air. The iron pressed hard against his skin, burning it. He was in a stone cell of some kind, and it was getting dark, with faint light spilling in from some kind of window behind him he wasn’t able to see. They had also taken his clock when they had captured him, but because of the light, he supposed the sun would be setting soon, so it was probably late afternoon of the same day he had fought the shadow monster and been captured. The cell wasn’t very big, and it had a heavy iron door in front of him.

He tried to turn around in his hanging position to look out the window, and barely managed to hold back a scream. His back was sticky, and he realized the people who had imprisoned him hadn’t even bothered to bandage the massive cuts that covered his back, much less stitch them up. His wounds weren’t bleeding anymore, but had started bleeding once again the moment he had tried to turn around. He looked around in pain, trying to move his head only.

The room had nothing else apart from the shackles he was hanging in—no bed, no food bowl, no potty, no nothing. His long jacket, Transmutation glove, and walking stick were gone too. He recognized that as meaning only one thing—they weren’t planning to keep him in there for long. Either they would set him free soon, or they would execute him, and he didn’t think they would set him free that easily. They would probably try to get rid of him as soon as they could, and executions usually didn’t happen at nighttime. The day was already ending. They might wait until morning to execute him, but given their hatred and fear of Transmutators, he didn’t think so. He probably had less than an hour left. He had to think of something, and quick.

The obvious choice would have been for him to Transmutate the shackles into sand, but mankind had clearly learned from Merdilen’s fight with the killers. No iron was touching his hands, and the shackles were around his wrists in such a way that his hands were left hanging, but weren’t able to reach the shackles, so he wouldn’t be able to Transmutate them. He tried to turn around once again to see if there was something behind him that might help him, but once again, the agonizing pain in his back stopped him. He was having trouble breathing, and his vision was blurring. Still, he didn’t think anything behind him would be of much help, as he was completely chained and unable to move, and he wasn’t able to Transmutate at range yet.

The logical answer to his problem would be to Transmutate the shackles with his wrists, but he had never Transmutated with anything that wasn’t his hands. While on his long trek from the home of his forefathers towards Berken, he had been Transmutating the burning sand into grass to keep his feet cool, but that was about it. He had never Transmutated anything bigger than that without his hands. But then, he realized. If he was able to Transmutate sand into grass with his feet, then that meant that, even if it was hard, it was possible to Transmutate without his hands. He just wasn’t able to do it because he had simply never tried hard enough. Following that theory, it should be possible to Transmutate with any part of his body, even… his back.

Merdilen hadn’t thought about it before, but if he could barely turn around with his back hurt like that, then he wouldn’t even be able to get out of his cell wounded. And if—once—he freed himself from his shackles, it would be too late for him to heal his back using the Transmutation. As he could tell from watching through the tiny window in his cell’s iron door, guards passed by his cell every few seconds at uneven rates. Once he freed himself from his shackles, he would probably have only a few seconds before the guards noticed, and he wouldn’t be able to fully heal his back and escape the cell unstopped. He had to use the Transmutation to heal himself through his back, and quick, before he bled to death or was executed. He remembered the words of his father, one of the first lessons he had given him when he had taught Merdilen the basics of Transmutation.

Transmutation depends on the power of one’s mind, his father had told young Merdilen, so many years ago. It doesn’t rely on the strength of your sword arm or the speed of your feet. It relies on the power of one’s will. With enough determination, no matter how experienced he is, a Transmutator can do anything. That’s why the Transmutators of old were so powerful and why the world fears our return—our only limitation is, quite literally, our own minds. Transmutation depended on one’s will and determination, and Merdilen was full of it. This was more important than a training lesson. His life depended on it. And he would survive. He would become a hero. He would overcome any challenges that crossed his path.

Merdilen concentrated hard and imagined the power flowing through him as a golden stream flowing through his veins. But instead of directing it to his hands, he directed it to his bleeding and wounded back. He kept concentrating hard, and he started replacing and reconnecting the wounded tendons, veins, blood vessels, and more. As they were several deep cuts, it took him several minutes, but as it was completely out of sight from the guards that passed by the cell on the other side, they offered no problem at all.

He finally finished healing himself, and focused on his shackles. He first directed his power to his shins, and after turning the shackles into dust, he quickly did the same thing with the shackles in his wrists.

I did it! he thought, full of adrenaline. I Transmutated with something that wasn’t my hands! It was a true achievement, something that, properly mastered, would give him a massive advantage in combat.

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When he was completely free, he fell to the ground, and the moment his sore feet touched the stone floor, he sprang to the far wall. He could only pray that on the other side of that prison wall he would be in the open, and not on another cell or, even worse, on a hallway.

The moment he touched the prison wall, he Transmutated with his hands, and in a matter of seconds turned the heavy stone bricks into his trusty long black jacket and clothes, Transmutation glove, and black sword. From now on, he had to be ready for anything. Because of the momentum he still had from his jump, he went straight through the now-missing prison brick wall and started falling through the air. Fortunately, he was effectively in the open now, and he was in some kind of big city, although he wasn’t able to recognize it. The prison seemed to be some kind of tall tower, but he hadn’t been locked up that high, so the closest rooftop was close enough for him to make the jump.

Merdilen jumped with all his strength, and barely made it to the closest rooftop. The hit would have probably broken his arm, but with his newly discovered ability, he turned his jacket’s left arm into a soft and thick cushion, shielding him. He stood up quickly, and turning his jacket’s left arm back to normal, started running to the far side of the rooftop. When he got to the end, he hesitated for just a moment before jumping to the next one, which was pretty close. But then, he realized something. He didn’t have to live as a fugitive forever.

As he had been captured, it was reasonable to think the killers knew he was there, as they clearly had very good intel about his whereabouts. He didn’t want to kill anyone, and he didn’t know if he would be able to kill them if he tried either. But he didn’t want to live running away forever. So the perfect choice would be to try to make them stop.

He didn’t know if he would be successful, but if he was able to talk them into realizing he wasn’t evil as the Transmutators of old, becoming a hero would become a thousand times easier. Who knew, maybe they’d even agree to become his allies after they found out he was trying to be a hero and he had the potential to help a lot of people. Talking to them seemed like the only good answer to his problem. He looked towards a big and thick tower, and realized what he had to do.

Kayline and the rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team dismounted from their horses and headed towards Arthol’s federal prison. The city of Arthol wasn’t as big as Cornaler, but it was still massive. The federal prison was in a very poor suburb, as no one who could afford a home somewhere else wanted to live near it. It was a tall stone tower that rose high over all the other buildings, with very few windows to be seen, as the cells didn’t have any. This prison was known to be one of the most secure prisons in the kingdom of Fergahn, and it was said to be inescapable.

Every hallway was rigorously guarded, and the guards didn’t provide as much as spoons for the prisoners in order for them not to escape. Also, with the elaborate chain system, dangerous prisoners could barely move, far from being able to escape. They would now execute the Transmutator, and the world would be at peace once more. The sun was already setting, and the sooner they did it, the better. But as they reached the bottom of the tower, a guard came running towards them.

“Thank goodness you’ve arrived!” the guard said in a fearful voice.

“Where’s the Transmutator?” Jarleren asked in a low voice.

“I’m so sorry, it all happened in a matter of seconds!”

“Where is he?!”

“He’s gone,” the guard muttered.

“What?!” exclaimed Salvatore.

Then, Kayline started running up the stairs as quickly as she could, followed by the rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team. The Transmutator’s cell was located on the prison’s third floor, and several prisoners looked at them surprised as they raced by. On the third floor, there was a massive commotion, and most of the prison guards were standing outside one of the cells, which seemed to be the one the Transmutator had been in.

They made their way through the sea of guards and entered. The cell had big chains and shackles hanging from the ceiling and sprouting from the floor, all of which had missing the parts in which the limbs would have gone. On the far stone wall was a hole big enough for a man to walk out of, and Kayline noticed the closest rooftop was close enough to be jumped to.

“You shouldn’t have allowed him to touch the shackles!” Salvatore exclaimed.

“We didn’t,” a guard answered. “He clearly Transmutated with his wrists or shins.”

“Well, you should have been more careful!” Salvatore accused.

“If you had told us he could Transmutate with the rest of his body too, we would have been!” countered another guard.

“How were we supposed to know?!”

So, while Salvatore argued with the guards about whose fault it was, Kayline took several steps back, and then ran towards the hole. The rest looked at her surprised, and she flew out of the hole only to land cleanly on the closest rooftop. If she had stopped herself when she hit the rooftop, her feet would have been damaged, so she just used the momentum of the fall to keep running, therefore reducing the damage on her feet. As she ran, she unsheathed both of her swords and held them steady at her sides. They couldn’t allow the Transmutator to escape any further. The rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team followed her, jumping to the rooftop with a little more clumsiness, and prepared their weapons.

They looked around, searching for the Transmutator, until they spotted a figure clad in black standing on top of a big and thick tower. It was already getting dark, so they could barely see him, but it was unmistakable. The Transmutator. It didn’t make sense for him to be standing still over there, but they started running towards it anyway. Salvatore shot two quick arrows at the Transmutator, but suddenly, a small shield shielded the Transmutator’s left hand, blocking the arrows and disappearing immediately after.

They ran up the stairs of the tower, and once they got to the top, the Transmutator was surprisingly still there. The Transmutator had his black sword ready at his side, and once they got at ear range from him, he pointed at them with his blade.

“Why are you fighting me?” he suddenly asked, staring at them in the eyes. “Tell me: what is my crime?”

That took them by surprise, but Jarleren answered quickly.

“Existing,” he said, and didn’t elaborate anymore.

“With my abilities, I can help the world immensely,” the Transmutator said. “Haven’t you thought about that?”

“A wolf can’t help sheep, no matter how sharp its fangs are,” Jarleren said in a low voice.

“You are a danger to mankind and the world as a whole,” Sir Grendar declared. “We can’t let you kill people.”

“But I haven’t killed anyone, have I?” the Transmutator reasoned. “In fact, I haven’t done a single thing against the law that wasn’t in self-defense.”

“You were taking a shadow monster to harm the villagers of Berken,” Kayline mentioned.

“No. The exact opposite. I killed the shadow monster before it harmed the villagers of Berken,” the Transmutator said, right before realizing his mistake.

“The shadow monster hadn’t done a single thing against the law that you knew of either, right? Then, why did you kill it?” Jarleren countered, leaving the Transmutator with no answer. “That’s why we’re going to kill you.”

And with that, they rushed him, ready to kill.

The first to attack was Sir Grendar. He rushed the Transmutator with his massive Bladesmasher high in the air, ready to slash down. The greatsword was so massive the Transmutator probably wouldn’t be able to dodge it backward or to the side, and Sir Grendar was swinging it with too much strength as for the Transmutator to block it effectively. The Transmutator couldn’t turn it into sand either, as the Bladesmasher would slice cleanly through his hand. The greatsword slashed down with incredible power, but at the last moment, the Transmutator dodged, not backward, but towards Sir Grendar.

He quickstepped behind Sir Grendar, and as the Bladesmasher was so incredibly heavy, the knight wasn’t able to change its course. The massive greatsword hit the ground with incredible force, destroying a part of the brick roof and cutting through easily to the tower below. Kayline hoped there had been no one under that portion of the ceiling. The Transmutator then slashed at Sir Grendar’s back with his black sword, but it bounced off the resistant steel armor, without doing as much as a scratch.

Sir Grendar turned with a surprising speed considering his heavy plate armor and slashed horizontally at the Transmutator. The Transmutator didn’t flinch though, and unexpectedly enough, thrust his left hand towards the incoming Bladesmasher.

That hit will completely shatter his arm, Kayline thought, bracing for the incoming catastrophe. But, instead of reaching it bare-handed, a black glove that Kayline just then noticed was covering the Transmutator’s left hand turned into a massive steel gauntlet, which grabbed the Bladesmasher without suffering harm. The Transmutator’s arm started instantly shaking because of the overwhelming pressure, and Kayline knew the maneuver wouldn’t give him more than a few seconds. But that was all the Transmutator needed.

The Transmutator turned his black sword into another equal black glove that covered his right hand, leaving it free. He then thrust his right hand into the Bladesmasher, grabbing it with his bare hand. As the greatsword was momentarily held immobile by the steel gauntlet now covering the Transmutator’s left hand, his right hand was free to grab the greatsword without the fear of being cut in half. He gripped the blade hard, and most of it turned to dust, rendering it useless.

But the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team had learned from its last battle, and they had supposed something like this could happen. The scientists of the kingdom of Fergahn hadn’t been wasting time. So, Sir Grendar took a step backward, and with his thumb pulled a small switch hidden in the sword’s hilt, which loosened the hilt and made it lose its grip on the blade. The broken blade fell to the ground, leaving the empty hilt on the knight’s hand.

Sir Grendar then took the hilt to his back, as it intending on unsheathing his greatsword once again. But instead, he directed the hilt to a big package strapped to his back, and the hilt clicked perfectly with the support blade all of them were carrying, connecting once more. But it would take several seconds, and they couldn’t risk leaving the Transmutator free during that time, so Kayline rushed in. She had learnt to never fight an opponent a sword-wielding ally was already fighting, as chances were she would get hit by a long swing. It was better for them to fight the Transmutator one-on-one, as that would allow them to go all out and not have to worry about hitting an ally.

Kayline ran to the Transmutator without letting him rest and prepared to unleash their secret weapon. She didn’t want to use it, but it was necessary. While she ran, she took two small earplugs from her pocket, and fit them into her ears. She also raised her right palm towards her ear while looking at the others, signaling what they had prepared beforehand. Then, instead of running the remaining distance towards the Transmutator, she changed course towards a small chimney pipe, several feet from the Transmutator. She jumped nimbly on top of it, and using the momentum, jumped upwards, raising her two swords above her left shoulder.

This is our top scientists’ newest invention, Erthen had told the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team before they left Cornaler. Sonic Blades. It consists of a special chemical with which you’ll coat your swords, and activates with kinetic energy. When you accelerate a certain amount with a Sonic Blade, the kinetic energy generated will trigger the chemical’s reaction, letting out an extremely high-pitched ring. As it is only dangerous for people within a few feet’s range, only the wielder will wear protective earplugs, but it will be lethal for the Transmutator.

Although we cannot be certain, we believe the Transmutator controls the Transmutation with his mind, so when he is temporarily stunned by the Sonic Blade, he should be unable to Transmutate, weakening him immensely, Erthen had explained. As for now, we have a limited amount of that chemical, so the Sonic Blades will be Kayline Sherdaine’s longswords, seeing as how she is the faster one with a sword here.

So Kayline jumped high in the air, and looking at the Transmutator, slashed all the way to her right way before reaching him. As she was in the air, the swing propelled her whole body to the right, and she continued the slash, spinning a full spin in the air to gain momentum and speed, her long red hair flowing in the air behind her. And it worked. Her swords made a low crackling sound, slightly shining silver, and an instant later, erupted into an extremely high-pitched ring. As she was wearing earplugs, her head hurt little, and she was able to easily endure the pain.

The Transmutator didn’t. Kayline fell to the ground on her feet, and although she didn’t reach him, she hadn’t meant to, and she had achieved her first objective. The Transmutator crouched partially, letting out a pained groan and covering his ears with his hands. He should be severely stunned now, and even though he would still be able to fight, although with less strength, he wouldn’t be able to Transmutate for a while, as that required focusing with his mind.

Kayline sprang to him with her swords ready behind her without missing a beat and slashed upwards with both. The Transmutator took several steps backward and raised his black sword, clumsily blocking one attack and evading the other. Kayline then slashed twice with her blades in opposite directions, and the Transmutator once again blocked one attack and took several steps back to evade the other.

He was clenching his left fist tight, clearly trying hard to Transmutate, but to no avail. The Sonic Blades had worked. Kayline slashed twice more with her blades, making the Transmutator move backwards. She was attacking with easily blockable but extremely fast strikes, as her objective wasn’t to hurt the Transmutator yet but to overwhelm him. Because he was still partially stunned, he would be overwhelmed with ease, and he wouldn’t be able to attack at all. Once he was overwhelmed, it would be way easier for her to deal the killing blow.

She kept slashing at him from all angles at high speed with her swords, and he was forced to almost run backwards while holding his black sword in front of him to block and evade the attacks. But the Transmutator would soon have nowhere to run. As they were fighting on top of a tower, he would soon reach its border. She imagined he would be able to do something to stop dying if he fell from it like last time, but the ground would be swarming with guards by now. That was the good thing about fighting in a city: even if he somehow managed to escape the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team, it would be almost impossible for him to escape the guards too. And the Transmutator was clearly exhausted already.

The rest of the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team were standing by, certain she already had the situation under control, and she was sure they would join the fight if she needed it. But then, Jarleren stealthily got next to the Transmutator without anyone noticing, and stabbed him in the side once again. He clearly wanted things to speed up. The Transmutator staggered backward, almost losing his balance.

This is my chance!, thought Kayline, and raised both longswords over her left shoulder. This ends now. But, right when she was about to slash downwards, she hesitated. The Transmutator hadn’t actually committed any crimes yet. Could she really kill an innocent man?

But, while in her internal debate, she hesitated for just a moment before attacking, and the moment was lost. The Transmutator regained his composure, and clenching his teeth and covering his stab wound with his right arm, thrust his left arm towards Kayline’s right shoulder. She realized the Transmutator would no longer be stunned, and suddenly overwhelmed herself, tried to quickstep backward and slash at him at the same time, but as the quickstep would have taken her backwards and the slash forward, she failed both.

The Transmutator reached her, and the moment he touched her right shoulder, her whole leather jacket became stone. Suddenly weighed down, she fell backward, completely defenseless. But once again, the Transmutator did nothing to finish her off. He actually tried to walk backward, but as she fell she saw a lightning-fast arrow flying past her and into the Transmutator’s left shoulder.

The arrow buried deep into his shoulder, exiting from his back, and he started to tumble backward in pain, having fully lost his balance. She looked at him from the ground, and he started going quickly to the tower’s border. But at the last few steps, it looked like he was actually trying to fall from the tower, which made no sense, considering the ground was swarming with guards, several floors below. He then jumped backward, throwing himself off the tower. Salvatore realized the Transmutator was actually planning something and fired two quick arrows at him, but they flew right past his falling body, and he kept falling to the guard-filled ground. Kayline pushed herself to her knees and crawled towards the parapet.

She saw the Transmutator falling rapidly towards the ground, but his face had none of the fear she would have expected. He kept falling at a high speed, but when he reached the ground, he didn’t crash. Instead, he seemed to Transmutate the ground with his back, which she thought impossible, and fell below it. She was able to see the dirty and wet city sewers through the ground for a fraction of a second, and the Transmutator Transmutated the ground back to stone right after falling through it. The ground once again closed completely, as if it had never opened, leaving the Anti-Transmutation Strike Team and the city guards dumbfounded.

“Go search for him!” shouted Sir Grendar at the guards, but all of them knew it would be practically impossible to find a person in that massive underground maze. The Transmutator had escaped. Again.