The new troupe of Inquisitors managed to impress me greatly, as their swift, efficient methods of cleaning up the cattle grounds showed impressive results.
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Kai dashed through the street, doing his best to hide within the minimal shadows the morning sun provided. He felt it, his mana sense being tracked by someone far stronger than he. Trying to pull it back proved useless, as the presence chasing him didn’t cease for even a second. His heart raced, threatening to jump out of his chest, and his feet shone with a soft light as his speed increased. To the average man and the average mage, his silhouette was nothing more than after-images left behind by his speed.
Despite that, the dreadful sensation of death prickling at the back of his neck didn’t lessen, but instead only grew stronger as time passed. They’re getting closer! Gritting his teeth, he thought of Onyx, unable to sense him anywhere in his vicinity. Boy, oh boy, please be safe! Kai prayed internally and pulled out his wand, now donned with a few transparent, dirty green crystals. His speed increased once again after he murmured under his breath. A slight relief washed over him as he felt the connection between him and the hunter lessened, and it was unable to gain distance anymore.
However, how long can this last? He took a quick peer inside his mana core and noticed that his star emptied at a rate visible to the naked eye. Despite that, he grit his teeth and sent as much mana as his feet could muster. At most twenty minutes of running, afterward… He shuddered after thinking about the consequences and didn’t dare look back in fear of seeing the monster chasing him. I need to think of a way to lose him. Gritting his teeth, Kai’s mind went into overdrive, trying to find a way to escape this peril.
A sudden shiver ran down his spine as he felt the Inquisitor’s presence approach him, the faint link between them sending signals of alarm like never before. Crap, crap, crap! Its presence approached him rapidly, at a pace that even his magic couldn’t keep up with. Fuck, I should have learned other speed spells! He cried internally and turned a corner, and then another before jumping onto a rooftop.
His cloak fluttered in the wind, as did his long, silver hair, with beads of sweat forming and rapidly disappearing due to the intense air pressure. Kai couldn’t pull back the faint sliver of mana the Inquisitor grabbed through unknown means, and its weakened form slowly grew stronger as it sent its own mana through it. Meaning that now, it had better sight of Kai’s location, and could track him for as long as the mana bond remained strong. What kind of bullcrap technique is this?! He thought, exasperated, but not defeated.
I can’t afford to give up! Not when I’ve come so far. With a racing mind and unrelenting will, he kept on running, sometimes gaining distance, other times losing it. All the while, his mana reserves depleted at a rapid rate due to him stacking so many speed and wind buffs on himself, and due to his lack of understanding of the spells. I should have just gone to the magic academy with Sverik! Kai cried internally, however it was far too late to regret his decisions.
Think, how can I escape it… damned this fucking link, if only I didn’t get cocky! Indeed, spreading his mana like that left him open to attacks, however he could have never imagined that someone could use it like their own personal GPS. Biting his lower lip, he cast a wind spell forward, then jumped on it, launching him into the air.
His thin, horrified figure bolted like a rocket in broad daylight, the sun grazing his skin even more intensely. However, it didn’t end there, as he cast a fire spell in front of him, which he condensed and kept at bay until his body stood only mere centimeters in front of it. At that point, he detonated it, shooting forward like a star, darting through the city, and landing in an alley. His back, alongside his clothes, burned and scorched, his skin sizzling and quickly cooling down.
Ignoring all of that, Kai quickly took back to running. Fuck, I need to sever this link. He thought with urgency, as he felt it weaken upon gaining distance, and quickly realized that the farther away he was, the less powerful it became. So then I just need to- However, his thoughts were cut short by a strong, furious, and hungry mana signal, shooting through the weak link and strengthening it. Dread made his hair stand on end as he felt the Inquisitor’s position suddenly dash toward him quicker than ever before. Fuck!
Kai ran faster and faster, gasping for air, and dry swallowing in between breaths, however even that proved to be useless as the Inquistor’s relentless pursuit turned more intense. Is it enjoying this? A sudden, grim thought passed by Kai’s mind, and he couldn’t bear the thought of being reduced to nothing more than prey. Fucking bastard! He grit his teeth and clenched his fist, however, knew that he could do nothing about it. Not now, at least.
Rage burned through his veins, fueling him with enough strength to just barely look behind him. Then, with widened eyes and trembling pupils, he gazed at the being chasing him like a hungry wolf. A woman clad with a simple silver breastplate, armguards, and helmet, all covered by a dark cloak. She wore a badge on her chest, and an airband in the center of which lay a dragon, with a spear piercing through its chest. An Inquisitor’s unmistakable outfit.
Their eyes locked mid-air, an icy shiver running down Kai’s spine from the woman’s cold, ruthless, and hungry gaze. Pyscho! He cried internally and hurried on, however, even severing the link would be useless, as he was in direct line of sight. If only I could turn invisible… Wait! At that moment, a stroke of genius brushed Kai’s mind, and he swiftly kicked against a wall and turned ninety degrees. Barhm definitely has some protections in place, he has to have them!
Clinging to that sliver of hope, the boy quickly dashed off toward Barhm’s house, knowing the way much too well after visiting so many times.
Eventually, he saw it, the wall in the middle of the dark alley, which now burned much brighter than before due to the sun. In that very same moment of temporary relief, the woman’s crackling voice scratched the back of Kai’s mind. “STOP RIGHT THERE YOU WRETCHED LEECH!”
Her voice grew closer as she yelled, shooting toward Kai like a meteor. At least five stars… fuck! He quickly pulled out the magic crystal Barhm gave him and sent it flying against the wall. It quickly became transparent, and he almost smashed into it. Instead, he passed through it, stopping with an incredible force on the other end, hitting against a table, chair, sofa, and wall. In that same instant, he felt the link connecting him and the woman break, and for the first time in what felt like hours, he finally felt free.
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Outside, the Inquisitor landed, punching at nothing but the floor, creating a large crater that spanned five meters, with a fist-shaped indent at the center. She frowned, and punched at the wall with a loud yell, causing a magical barrier to appear and shudder.
“What in Eda’s name?!” Barhm’s panicked voice echoed from his lab, and immediately went out to investigate the disturbance. Kai’s figure quickly revealed itself before him. His white hair had shades of crimson blood dripping down his clothes, and his mask, whatever was left of it, dug into his flesh.
With much struggle, he pulled out the shards, causing a small fountain of blood to drop on Barhm’s floor. Afterward, wincing through the pain, he pulled out two red pills and swallowed them without hesitation.
His wretched appearance shocked even Barhm, so much so that he couldn’t even utter a word.
“They… they found me,” Kai said, spitting out blood and teeth. “The inquisitors, they-” However, his sentence was interrupted by a violent shudder, and the entire building trembled under the assault of the woman.
“That barrier won’t last long, I don’t have a teleporter or portal either, why did you come here?” Barhm asked, with a voice full of genuine worry for the first time in forever.
“Invisibility, I,” he coughed out even more blood, however, the external bleeding he brought upon himself by smashing into the wall closed up already. “I think I can lose her. She’s not a Mage, she can’t sense me if I reduce my presence and make myself invisible-” He coughed again, this time almost falling to his knees.
“Alright, I got it,” Barhm said hastily with a regretful expression decorating his face. “But I didn’t manage, I couldn’t fully figure it out-” His speech was interrupted by another shudder. He gulped. “I couldn’t fully figure it out.”
Kai bit his lower lip and seemingly stared at Darky through the wall. Taking in a deep breath, he dragged his feet closer to Barhm and said with a ragged breath. “Blood.” Pointing with his eyes toward the creature.
A wild glint shone in Barhm’s pupils, and he immediately pulled out all the leftover blood vials he had. They were five in total, and Kai instantly grabbed them. Slight hesitation danced in his eyes, however, he threw caution to the wind, and opened them one by one, instantly drinking their contents. In five breaths of time, all the vials emptied, and Darky’s blood flowed through Kai’s system.
He staggered backward and clutched his head as an incredible pain flowed through his veins. They expanded and contracted at a rapid pace, Kai’s muscles convulsed and a mind-splitting headache clutched his skull. His hands became claws, and fangs, as sharp as a razor’s edge, protruded out of his mouth.
The crimson within his eyes shone softly, and his pupils oscillated between a round and snake-like shape until they ended up being an amalgamation of the two. Letting out a howling scream, his body rapidly adapted to the new source of blood, and he stood up. At that same moment, the house shuddered once again, and a shattering sound accompanied it.
Barhm fell backward and gave Kai an urgent look Nodding at each other, Barhm waved his hand toward the door as Kai rushed toward it, successfully passing through and running past the beast-like woman.
She took a moment to react, and, after taking a deep, meaningful stare at Barhm. He stood behind the quickly materializing wall, with a confident and intrigued bearing. Sniffing the air, the woman turned around and dashed toward Kai’s location, however, Barhm knew from her glare alone that he was no longer safe in the city. “Damn.” Was all he said before disappearing into his lab.
…
Kai dashed madly through the street, even faster than before, with a newfound strength coursing through his veins. It wasn’t mana or muscles, but instead something more mysterious. Darky’s blood, which he had ingested a good quantity of, fueled his body with an unfathomable amount of energy. However, much to his dismay, most of it was wasted as he didn’t have the time nor knowledge on how to properly use it.
An intense, primal feeling rushed through his body, and, for a second, Kai wanted to fall on all fours and run like a dog through a mountainside. However, his consciousness returned to him upon feeling the woman pull at the mana he exuded, trying to form another link. Not again! He growled internally and controlled his mana in such a way that little escaped his body even as wind magic surrounded him. A light clicking of a tongue echoed behind him.
Desperate, Kai tried to use the energy and power Darky provided him to turn invisible, hide himself away, and become one with the environment. It put quite a mental toll on him, making him unable to fully focus on running and hiding.
That gave the woman an opportunity and a light, thin, silver spear manifested in her hand. Shortly after, she jumped and aimed, her eyes following Kai like a hawk, and then… she threw it! It shot like an arrow straight at where Kai would be, a shiver running down his spine as the sound of air getting cut rang in his mind. Can’t slow down! Gritting his teeth, he pushed his legs to their limit for a split second, making it so the spear scraped the back of his neck, pulling away his cloak, alongside his shirt, and barely missing the necklace. Crap!
The clothes pulled at his neck as they tore apart, left behind pinned to the pavement together with the now bloodied spear. His heart skipped a beat, as his entire chest became exposed to the sunlight. However, his panic quickly faded, and a bad taste appeared in his mouth.
Despite that, he had no time to think about anything else but turning invisible and dodging another upcoming spear. This time, instead of speeding up, he slowed down for a second, which made the spear completely miss him. Yet, that small second gave the Inquisitor enough time to catch up to him, and from mere inches away, grab at his neck.
Kai’s pupils dilated, and he quickly cast another wind spell, this time creating an explosion of air that sent him flying forward and slightly impeding the maddened woman. He bit his tongue in the process, though, causing a river of blood to flow inside his throat and drip down his chin. Coughing, he unintentionally spit on his hand, then stared at it with widened eyes. This…
Much to his surprise, and horror, the spots where his blood landed turned completely transparent, invisible, and untraceable, safe for sound and heat signatures. He growled, and quickly wiped it away, unable to accept that covering himself with his blood was the only solution.
Swoosh
He dodged instinctively, moving his head to the side. A spear brushed by his ear, sending his hair flying wildly about. And in that same moment, the woman’s yell echoed from behind, alongside her ever-growing presence. She shot down from the sky, her first covered in orange-blue fire, which burned away at Kai’s skin before it even came close to him.
The shockwave from that alone will kill me!
A pit formed in his stomach as he realized that, however, and knew that the situation was almost lost.
The woman landed mere meters away from Kai, her punch digging into the pavement. Its shockwave caused the ground to shudder and cave in, and entire buildings collapsed all around. It spread quickly, and efficiently, rippling through the alley and smashing into Kai with a bone-crunching force.
He hissed in pain as a large cloud of dust and debris rose, and a soft thud echoed from within.
The woman frowned, and pulled her fist out of the road, slowly making her way toward Kai.