Kalden watched Akari step out onto the balcony. Knowledge mana flowed between their link, and he saw the world through her eyes. He felt the mana rushing through her channels and the pressure that gathered beneath her palms. Their thoughts wove together like two strands in a cord, and a battle plan formed between them.

Valeria cracked a smile from the nearby rooftop. The dragon’s own mana remained still, but her golden eyes remained fixed on her opponent. Most people couldn’t see spacetime mana. Even with Silver Sight, the Missiles flew faster than bullets from a gun. But as always, those rules didn’t apply to Masters.

Elend had once described this process as seeing with your soul rather than your eyes. Eyes were just bundles of nerves and tissues, after all, and no amount of mana could truly change that. But Masters could push past these senses, freeing their souls, and perceiving the secret currents of the world. Valeria might even see the shifts in Akari’s body, down to the smallest breath, blink, or twitch. With enough skill, she might even know Akari’s next move before she did.

No, don’t think about that. Valeria Antano might be dangerous, but she wasn’t like Elend or Irina. His team would already be dead if that were the case.

Akari kept her mind focused on victory, and Kalden forced himself to do the same. Besides, they’d prepared for all of this. When Akari made her first move, she didn’t just shoot one technique; she shot six. four Missiles, and two darts. Each one flew toward a random rooftop, the first few strands in a web of possibilities. And while Akari watched her opponent, Kalden cycled his battle mana, searching for the ideal path in his mind’s eye.

Most paths led to death, and victory was a distant dream at this point. But he didn’t need victory yet. He just had to worry about the next few seconds.

A thought passed between them, and Akari vanished from the balcony. The dragon flew off with a burst of flame, heading straight toward her. No sooner had Akari landed than the fire closed in, ready to turn her body to ash.

Akari swapped with the other dart, appearing three blocks to the north. Her opponent soared after her, closing the distance in several heartbeats.

Kalden rushed onto the balcony, straight toward the portal she’d left behind. It opened with a quick mental command, and he charged through, appearing on a rooftop that overlooked the battlefield. Elise and Relia followed, and Elise formed an invisibility Construct around their group. Valeria had kept her word so far, but they couldn’t count on that for long.

Fire flashed through the streets as the dragon propelled her body from one building to the other. Akari was always one step ahead, moving faster than she’d ever moved before. Her portals winked in and out of existence, swallowing her like a sheath, almost as fast as her displacements.

He’d hoped the dragon would grow more reckless as the battle went on, but the opposite was true. Every technique was careful and controlled, and she never used more power than she needed. Even her intent was a gentle whisper. Valeria could have used that as a weapon to overwhelm Akari, but that also risked attracting more Masters to the fight. She’d already learned that lesson once today.

Still . . . this was working. Barely a minute had passed, but Akari remained unharmed—an Apprentice against a Master. How many people in history could make that claim?

But Valeria was adapting, too. She’d begun dividing her techniques, thinking several moves ahead, destroying Akari’s portals before they formed. The dragon might be untrained by Artegium standards, but she was still a Master. No one climbed that high without good instincts.

“Relia,” Kalden said. “Get a shield ready. As strong as you can make it.”

Three seconds later, the dragon cornered Akari in an alley. Akari had both her personal darts, but Valeria would destroy them if she tried to escape. Even a portal was too slow here.

Valeria raised her hand for the kill, but Kalden’s aspect had predicted this. A thought passed between their mental link, and Akari fired Relia’s dart into the alley floor. Relia vanished from Kalden’s side, appearing next to Akari with a dome of Moonshard.

Fire slammed against the dome of Angelic mana, but it held firm, even as the stone burned around them. While Valeria struck the shield, Akari made a portal behind the dragon. She pulled out Arturo’s pocket cell and—

Too slow. Valeria whipped around, and Akari barely escaped in time.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The chase continued as Akari ran through hallways, leapt over rooftops, and ducked around corners. One second, she was deep in the sewers beneath the city. The next, she was on a skyscraper, half a mile away. Everything moved too fast for words or thoughts. But Kalden leaned into the chaos, cycling his mana harder, leaving his own body behind. There was nothing but this battle. This moment.

Thoughts flowed freely between his own mind and Akari’s. Sometimes, she followed his plans to the letter. Other times, she followed her own instincts, moving in unpredictable ways. And all the while, Relia fought with them, healing Akari’s wounds, and blocking the dragon’s flames.

If Akari had gone into this fight alone, she would have died more than a dozen times over the last minute. Even with Kalden’s aspect, they were too slow to fight a Master in earnest. But with Relia, their strands came together to form a cord of three, far stronger than the sum of its parts.

The fight moved to an empty street, and his aspect worked to put the pieces in place. This plan was a stretch, but it was the best they had.

“Get ready,” he said to Elise. “We’re going to set a trap.”

~~~

Ashur Moonfire held a tablet in his hands, watching the battle from a small park in Puerto Crescento. The sun’s rays warmed the bench beneath him, and the palm trees swayed in the tropical breeze. The scene was almost peaceful—a far cry from the battle they’d expected.

A few of his peers sat nearby, while the Mystics worked to undo their creations. Storm’s Eye had ostensively cut off their portals before it left, leaving them trapped in a prison of their own design.

A clever move, to be sure.

Of course, no one truly blamed Storm’s Eye for this feat. Whispers of betrayal echoed through the city, but it hadn’t yet devolved into finger-pointing. This world had gone to great lengths to become more civilized, but many shards of the old world remained. For one thing, sufficient power still forgave all sins, and while Ashur was undoubtedly the prime suspect, no one would dare accuse him without proof.

He glanced back at his tablet, scrolling through the footage from Koreldon City. The Solidors fought Storm’s Eye in the bay, unleashing several Missiles of pure white flame that broke through the spirit’s shields.

Dawnfire?

Ashur almost laughed. Were the fools wasting their precious Etherite to defend an enemy city? His mother had once called them foolhardy and idealistic, but he’d never realized the extent of that until now.

Just as well; Ashur had no desire to watch his city burn for a second longer than it had to, he just wished he could have been there to fight Storm’s Eye himself. He didn’t need more people sympathizing with the Aeons or their cultists.

In another life, he and the Solidors might have been allies, but things were far too complicated for such an alliance right now. The Solidors were strong, but they stood no chance against this world’s true enemy. There was plenty of room left in the Archipelago, and the pair would surely end up there if they got too bold.

Ashur closed the browser window and opened another batch of feeds. While the first had come from the news reporters, these came from ordinary people, recording from their cell phones on the west side of town.

There, Akari Zeller fought Valeria Antano. And yes, this was indeed a fight rather than a chase. The girl looked like prey to the untrained eye, but every retreat was a step in a larger pattern. Did Valeria realize this? Probably. The dragon lacked finesse, but she understood the value of research. Zeller and her team were infamous tricksters, and today was no exception.

But did she care? That was another story. She’d lost one son, and she believed the whole world needed to burn for it. But that was the price of immortality—you would likely outlive the people you loved most. If Valeria couldn’t accept that, she had no place among the Masters’ ranks.

Still, the dragon had her uses. She’d helped him retrieve the Etherite collar from the Darklights’ vault, and she’d stopped Zeller from becoming an Aeon today. That alone was a victory, regardless of how this fight played out. Ashur didn’t care if Zeller lived or died, just as long as she stopped advancing.

At one point, the Valeria cornered the Zeller in an alley, and it looked like the fight was over. But then a red-haired girl appeared out of thin air, stopping the fire with a flash of pale blue light.

Relia.

And that Construct . . . was that Moonshard?

Ashur’s breath caught in his throat, and the tablet grew slippery in his palms. The experts had called her condition incurable, but she’d conquered it. She’d survived all the way to Artisan and become an Aeon.

How? Lyraina hadn’t done this. Relia had been on the verge of death several months ago, long after they’d parted ways.. He’d even heard reports of her collapsing in the middle of class.

It didn’t matter how she’d advanced. Ashur had been a fool. He’d cast her aside twenty years ago, but every trial had made her stronger than before. He didn’t regret his actions today, he only regretted the way he’d treated her—the way he’d doubted her every step of the way.

Relia was his daughter. And if she survived this battle, she’d go on to become one of the strongest people on this planet.

Zeller landed on an empty road, and Valeria descended from the sky, raining fire around her. Relia appeared beside Zeller and raised another dome of Moonshard . . .

Wait . . . what was that in the background?

Ashur paused the video and zoomed into a small corner store behind Valeria. Violet dream mana flashed in the window, and he caught a glimpse of blonde hair before the form went invisible.

His heart beat even faster. That couldn’t be Elise, could it? He’d seen her board the airship.

No, Ashur corrected himself. He’d seen her approach the ship, but he’d turned away for several seconds. He’d given her a brief window to escape.

Ashur glanced up at the dome around the city. Any technique could be broken, even if it meant revealing his true power to his peers. It was a risk, but both his daughters might in danger, and he couldn’t stay here for another second.