Chapter 486: HELL OF A TIME (2/2)

Suddenly his fist rapped in the front of h tih the shop’s frontand went sprawling across the street

With a lass out of , and the front door of the shop opened

The Vritra-blooded h it He stopped in front ofdown a beaklike nose

I tree One scarlet eye, one brown eye…

I spit blood at his feet “Wolfruent I’d heard of his treachery, how he had nearly captured Lady

Caera, but I hadn’t seen him in this form, only as the bent-backed little weasel that had been his cover, and I hadn’t ihostly vision of ave etic shake of her head, al flesh and blood so she could helpover the distant rooftops Conditions weren’t ideal for any of ht

In Wolfruan to shake and wheeze “P-please, he made me, I didn’t have a ch-choice! I can tell you whatever you want to know, just don’t hurt—hrk!”

The silver necklace constricted rapidly, choking off Ed into his neck Blood ran hot and thick down his chest as his face came clearly into view He stared atwordlessly

Sorry Ed, I thought, retracting my mana from the artifact, which assured anonyarded the dying e of the distraction to begin channeling my emblem, Sun Flare

The Vritra-born dropped Edmon unceremoniously on the street “And the co back to me with one brow raised

Mana rushed into Sun Flare, and the glare of the sun blazed across the street, turning the entire sky white Wolfrum hissed and raised a hand over his closed eyes

Activating Myopic Decay, I focused it on ainst the glare as I scra hit me from behind, lifted and spun uely aware of bouncing a couple of ti I knew that, this ti as I didn’t move, I wouldn’t feel all of the pain quite yet “hell of a ti,” the shade ofdown beside me “hell of a time to be dead,” I shot back breathlessly

Both my spells had faded, and I expected Wolfrum would be satisfied with ave a grunt of effort, and there was a dull rush of air

I jerked over onto my side, my entire body raw and bruised, but I barely felt it past the roiling ofof my heart

Darrin flew up the street fro the Vritra-born with a rapidfire series of wind-lengthened punches and kicks

Filled with desperation, I sent out a sharp pulse with Aural Disruption, focused on Wolfru with a jet of black flarunted, heaving myself to my feet Every joint from my neck down co at the soft tissue ofthe pain down, I reached for the third level of Myopic Decay

My body becaer able to run or even pretend to My entire plan had fallen apart between one breath and the next “Go, fool! I’ve got this…under control”

Darrin gave no indication he’d heard me as he danced around a series of soulfire bolts carried on black lines of void wind

From my dimension artifact, I withdrew a handful of paper-wrapped capsules Tossing them into the air, I released a quick blast of Aural Disruption, destroying thean to pour into the street Very fine, sparkling dust was suspended in the sain poured mana into Sun Flare The dust shone like ten thousand stars, burning through the sh

Bending low, I ran tohere I could still feel the bursts of ether Darrin was falling back into the obscuring cloud, but gusts of void iping away the cover as quickly as it could form A black blade appeared in my hand, and I imbued the charith as much mana as I could spare to focus on

With a sudden burst of Aural Disruption, followed by a lesser casting of Myopic Decay targeted at Wolfru skulls of fire and threw myself at his attacker Wolfrum’s mismatched eyes narrowed in intense concentration, and a shi+eld of black rapped around hied across the surface of the shi+eld, and our ainst each other

His proved the stronger, and my weapon failed to pierce his shi+eld

I pulled the shortsword toa scything blade of void wind that cut the air behind me “Alaric of Blood Maer” The Vritra-blood’s voice was like ice water in my face “You’ve been quite the irritant over these lastthat bulbous red wart you call a nose into Scythe Dragoth’s affairs will be the end of you”

I was back on my feet, my blade held out in front ofto disperse, but I couldn’t see Darrin A grateful breath escapedtheinto Sun Flare as the stone dust settled, no longer providing a surface to enhance the light of A hard box appeared in my left hand, which I kept hidden behind n is probably dead, your boss the Scythe was mutilated and embarrassed My boss,and hasn’t made contact with Alacrya since the shockwave Why don’t we just agree to go our separate ways, aye?” I raised a brow es haven’t recovered yet? Entire cities like this one have shut down All we’re trying to do is get people back on their feet”

Wolfruh Sovereign will return, and when he does, ill gift him a mountain of skulls, which is all that will remain of your traitorous faction”

I took a step back,for an escape route

Wolfrum smiled In his confidence, he relaxed “Pathetic I expected more of a man trained as one of Alacrya’s finest spies” His countenance darkened “Yes, we knoho you are, now It’s i Like any old, sick dog, though, there comes a time when you need to be put down”

His hand curled into a fist, and dark fire and wind began condensing around him

In the flaain My old commander, the won, stood to Wolfru To his left, the other woman The one with the dark bundle in her arruh I knew the words were only that

A burning skull large enough to shole coalesced around WolfruThe transparentupwards and folded out into a flat, transparent wall between htnоvеlсаvе~c`оm The skull struck it, and the barrier trembled

With a burst of Aural Disruption and as e into the third level ofaway

The street in front of h the stones I slammed hard on my back, the breath crushed out ofand breathless, I couldn’t h balcony of a nearby home, his body wrapped in wind-attribute mana In the half second it took him to fall, a hail of blows struck Wolfru him Darrin struck the Vritra-blood with a knee between the shoulder blades, driving Wolfru wind fell faster than iant skull of soulfire and void wind erupted Darrin was lifted off Wolfrum’s back by a blaze of black fire, and thestone As if everything moved in slow motion, I saw clearly how the black fire was drawn into Darrin’s open mouth and eyes, even into his pores I felt the soulfire take root inside his core, the spectral heat of it burning within hi of sand, his body limp, his eyes rolled back into his head

With a rush of adrenaline, I threw myself back toslowly, as if unconcerned for our ongoing battle

I barely noticed the screa his lith leaving me

The shadow of ers brushed across his cheek, not siveaway everything thatbehind er mattered

At the sound of rippedsoulfire He tried to speak, but all that caroan His teeth clenched, and his back spashost of my commander shi+fted, suddenly in front ofbrown eyes burrowed into mine “This isn’t your fault, Alaric None if it has been your fault”

I let“We both know that’s not true, Cynthia”

Strong fingers took edas you don’t resist further, I’ll withhold my fire Test ht end his suffering that way, trustby soulfire is not a fate you would wish on any you care for, and in the end would only increase your own suffering round at my captor’s feet, but I bent down to lift Darrin as he co, boy Nothing you can do to s have already done”