Chương 62: THE BEAR AND THE SCYTHE

Vikram pushed his speed to high capacity, racing T'balt to an imaginary finish line. T'balt fought to dodge his errant explosions, but all he could do was predict them with his natural mind. Between that and Chosa's wind, he'd been effectively countered and couldn't get a clean shot on either of them.

"You haven't spent your load already, have you?" Chosa's scythe screamed through the air down on top of him. But Acelin was there to stop it with the force of his psychic power. He flung it back at her, but she was easily able to control it back to her hand.

"Thanks, Acelin. Are the others okay?" T'balt asked once they were at a standstill.

"I don't know. I left them back there."

"Acelin, we talked about the plan. Don't worry about me."

"You say that, but I'm not dumb. If something happens to you, then we just lose. And the last thing I want is to let these dummies win."

"I guess you're right," T'balt said as he was sizing up his opponents. They were several rooms away in the grand dining hall of the building. A long table was centered in an oversized marble room. Plates, silverware, and scraps of food were all over the place like Zero Day had interrupted some people's lunches. T'balt was upset that he let himself get lured so far away. It wasn't good that Acelin was here with him and not the others. The boy was serving as the tank this time around.

His psychic and forcefield loot were capable of dealing with both close and long-range attacks. An all-around perfect defense for most cases. With his natural affinity for using movement-based loot, he could protect anyone from anywhere on the field. But not if they weren't on the same battlefield.

"We have to get back as soon as possible," T'balt told Acelin. He barely got the words out when Acelin charged forward, cloaked by his ball of protection. He was using the forcefield as a battering ram. He used his light speed to charge right at Chosa, who got caught off guard and knocked out a window. Acelin then went for the Bear in the same manner. But with the explosions, he actually had to make an effort to dodge, with each one rocking the whole building. Too many direct attacks would break his forcefield.

Vikram made himself a hard target to catch, but with Acelin's distraction, T'balt was at his back and taking him down with a hard strike to the back of the head. It didn't knock him out, leaving room for a close-range explosion. Acelin protected and threw an entire table at the man, which ended up being disintegrated by a burst of fire. Vikram was quickly overwhelmed by the suddenness of the two-on-one assault. He was just as fast as both of them, but following both their attacks was too much for him.

Acelin used his perfect defense to close the distance while T'balt served as the damaging threat. A brief flurry sent him running to the corner, backed against a wall. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Give up now, and we'll let you go," T'balt said. Vikram sucked in his teeth, looking at the broken window where Chosa was taking her sweet time getting back up. Then he raised an eyebrow.

"Bite me, punks." With the snap of his fingers, Vikram revealed his third loot. A beast summon. They weren't large, but they were fierce and blowing with the flames of rebellion from their teeth to their tails. A set of three hellhounds appeared in front of them, gnarling and primed to attack. They didn't need a command. They launched to attack them both with teeth cloaked in fire.

"How you like it? A gift from our Redeemer. The real one." Vikram coupled their attacks with the unpredictability of his explosions. The hounds attacked in strange, unpredictable patterns, one taking direct attacks and the other two zig-zagging around to find an opening in Acelin's defenses. He had to suddenly watch all sides of him while still shielding himself from the bombs. T'balt jumped in to deal with them, but their fire was too hot for him to get too close.

It was like they would activate whenever they sensed him nearby, turning the small fires attached to them into infernos. An explosion destroyed the floor beneath him, forcing a retreat. The hounds then turned to surround Acelin, who was driving them away with mentally handled objects from the dining area. They tried to dogpile him, but he was able to zip away in neon form. However, Vikram predicted the movement, sending a monumental combustion right where he was going to be.

It shattered Acelin's protection, burning his clothes and sending him crashing to the floor. T'balt was there to defend him, swiping his hands to keep the hounds away.

"Are you alright?"

"Jeez, that hurt. I hate dogs."

"Really?"

"The rabid fire-breathing ones, yeah."

"Either way. This is new. I've never encountered these dogs before."

"What do we do?" Just when Acelin asked, Chosa made her appearance through the window.

"Damn, kid. There's a cliff out there. I totally almost died."

"Stop complaining," Vikram called.

"You've got wind loot. You can basically fly. I oughta burn your ass for taking so long."

"Do you wanna die or something?" she threatened, pointing the end of the scythe at him.

"Come at me, bitch."

"You're lucky we're in the middle of something, or I'd feed your shriveled up little balls to your little Cerberus puppies."

"What the fuck does Cerberus even mean?"

"Hello? Hellhounds? Three heads?"

"What?" Her lips twisted in disgust before turning her attention back to T'balt. The worst part was that she was practically one of them in that grunge punk get-up she was wearing. Fully a member of Nrv, and she didn't have to hold back any of that vile personality. She licked her lips with a tongue stained by neon purple candy.

"Well, T'balt, you never did take me out dancing..." This wasn't good. They were surrounded. A five-on-two attack, including the hounds. He had to make a quick call and play his next card.

"Acelin, get behind me." He reached into his bag of loot and calculated which would be best for dealing with these two. And he made the decision in the split second before it touched the tip of his fingers.

"Second Equip. Hardening."