Galactic High

Jack barely had time to react as he felt the sharp gravel begin tearing at the flesh of his back, as he was dragged away from the others. He fired blindly at the serpent flying through the air using some kind of jetpack, but Svaartal dipped and dodged effectively, easily avoiding the photon blasts Jack tried to hit him with. Jack decided that if he couldn't hit the snake, he could aim for something easier, aiming for the wire holding him instead.

"Oh no you don't, Frost!" Svaartal snarled as he sharply moved to the side, smacking Jack into something concrete, the pain dazing him and throwing off his aim. Svaartal operated something on his jetpack to boost the power, and soon Jack was in the air, desperately trying to bring it down to ground level, doing whatever he could to yank on the wire and otherwise lower their elevation. He didn't know what it would be like to fall from a high height in low gravity, and he certainly didn't want to find out!

Jack smacked into another building, this time with a crack as his ribs took the brunt of the impact, the pain of breathing telling him he must have broken a few. He wouldn't survive much more of this….

Somehow he was able to look ahead, spotting a partially ruined building with a few stone pillars on the roof ahead. If he could just time it right…

Svaartal dipped to the right, and Jack found something to push up against to shoot him left, sending him past the sharp, jagged concrete pillar he would have smacked into, barely giving him enough time to brace as the wire holding him snapped taut, sending lance's of pain biting into his ankle, and a curse from Svaartal as something gave and the wire slackened.

Quickly, Jack unravelled the wire from around his ankle, trying not to look too hard at the unnatural bend in his foot as he tried to pop it back into place with a grunt of agonising pain he couldn't quite stifle. He tried to force his way through the pain as he got to his feet, knowing that his injury would need to be looked at by a professional. Still, adrenaline was on his side for now, and he knew he had to move. The others were counting on him!

He quickly spun around and fired with his Dominator as several balls of blue light smacked into him, throwing off his aim and scattering the photon blasts harmlessly over the armoured serpent. The force of each bolt felt like a mid-power punch, dazing him as one smacked him in the face and one of the others hit him in his damaged ribs, but otherwise doing little damage despite being enough to knock the human down.

"Is that all you got?" Jack grunted despite himself, shooting several more photon blasts at where he knew the snake was hiding in cover. He knew he had to finish this quickly and took careful aim at the pillar. "Overcharge!"

The bolt smacked dead centre and obliterated the cover, but Jack quickly realised he'd been tricked. There was nothing there…

He heard quiet whispering and knew Svaartal was casting, but where was he?

"Terralika!" Jack heard the crescendo and barely ducked out of the way as a globe of acid smashed to the ground past where his head had been with a sizzle, melting a hole in the ground that kept expanding as Jack returned fire, shooting at the top of the pillar where the spell came from, only for the shots to pass by without connecting to anything.

'Gotta be invisible… ' Jack thought to himself, as he heard several sounds around him all at once, which worried him significantly. 'But where is he?'

A slight trick of the light to his left was all it took for him to start rapid firing, missing several times but eventually scoring a hit, shattering the illusion and revealing the armoured snake. Svaartal responded quickly by casting a ray of blue light that forced Jack to dip to the side, but not before the ray of frost sent a biting pain of cold through his shoulder.

Jack sent some burst fire back, but Svaartal was ready for it, holding his arms out in an 'X' shape and chanting in a guttural language as he appeared to just…take the hits?

No! Jack realised. He was absorbing the shots somehow! But why?

Jack quickly felt the winds shift to the left as Svaartal suddenly disappeared and instantly reappeared next to him, reaching out with a glowing hand and trying to grab Jack's head, which Jack was only barely able to parry by grabbing the serpent's wrist, as Svaartal did the same to Jack, redirecting photon blasts uselessly to the side as Jack tried firing up close.

Trying to physically overpower the snake, Jack was horrified when he realised he couldn't. This wasn't like last time he had fought Svaartal at all - he was much stronger! Another magic trick?

"Is that all you've got?" Svaartal taunted as he saw the surprise in Jack's face, before the human quickly pressed himself closer to the snake, restricting Svaartal’s head movement as he tried to decapitate Jack with his acid breath. The liquid passed above his head, but some still sizzled across the human's back. Svaartal's breath weapon stopped as quickly as it had started, and both grapplers jockeyed for position again, with Jack laying in some hard kicks into the side of Svaartal. He had no idea how effective they would be, but they clearly hurt as Svaartal started away from them and lashed out with his razor-sharp tongue, forcing Jack to move his head again.

Just as Svaartal had predicted.

The snake then suddenly clinched forwards and sank his teeth into Jack's already injured shoulder, pumping as much venom as he could, but also repeatedly striking the same area, sinking his long teeth in deep as Jack's grip on Svaartal's glowing hand began to weaken.

Svaartal suddenly jolted back though, as Jack desperately fired with his Dominator, catching Svaartal in the side to his visible pain. The snake released his bite in a desperate attempt to realign his grip before Jack lurched forward and headbutted Svaartal in the face.

The snake looked furious as he still refused to let go of his grip, and then snarled in sheer rage as he headbutted Jack right back, the efforts stunning both boys and making some space between the two. Jack recovered first and leapt up, smashing Svaartal in the face with his knee, breaking the mutual grapple as the snake fell back to the ground spinning, his glowing hand making contact with the ground and sending a pulse of energy ripping throughout the roof he was on, the kinetic discharge creating large cracks throughout the building and all across the roof.

Jack quickly followed up with a few bursts but Svaartal quickly conjured a ward that deflected the shots harmlessly to the side as he struggled to stand up. Jack knew he had to press his advantage as he ran to close the distance, but Svaartal quickly thrust out his hands, and sprayed some kind of black slippery substance on the floor, tripping Jack up and sending him slamming to the ground.

That was all it took for the ruined roof of the building to finally collapse and send both boys tumbling down…

*****

“They’re trying to flank us!” Nika grunted as she ducked down behind her low cover. Sephy laid down some suppressing fire on a trio of Korrigans that were part of Kralk’s crew, the Skritta being the best suited to do so safely thanks to the smarklinked weaponry, before Nika quickly moved back to where the rest of the group was. Their enemies knew the general direction and area they had moved to, but not their exact position. They had quickly stashed their bags and anything they didn’t need under an out-of-the-way office desk as soon as they were clear. Even if they had to flee, Sephy had marked the coordinates down for later.

They’re spreading further afield. Chiyo cautioned. We're easier to spot and pin down, but it's easier for us to push through and retreat.

"Can you confirm all their auras now?" Nika asked curiously.

Whatever non-detection spells Svaartal cast have either expired or he's deactivated them early. I can't find Jack, though, and I've never been able to see Svaartal's aura.

"Sephy? What's it looking like on the drone?" Alora asked.

"A lot of dust kicked up on a roof a few blocks from here! It's got to be them!"

"Probably," Nika grunted. "We've got to get there soon and take Svaartal out!"

"They're here you fools! On me! Now!" they heard the voice of Kralk bellow from above. The group barely got to cover in time before he unleashed a wild burst with his Gatling laser, the group barely getting into cover in time.

"They're pinned down!" Kralk yelled over his comms. "Surround them! We don't need that traitor mage for this! Where's Frost?"

I'm sorry! Chiyo panicked. I didn't see his aura! He’s still masked!

"Time to surrender, Glenpharanix!" Kralk yelled as the tarnished tiles of the floor around them were churned up by heavy fire. "This day belongs to Kralk the Konqueror!"

"Don't even think about it!" Nika growled, and Alora nodded in agreement.

"Never!" Alora yelled as she quickly peeked out of cover with a wand and aimed at Kralk's position, activating the command word. "Pyralis!"

A snaking jet of fire zigzagged past in the general direction of Kralk, snaking past cover and ripping into several of the Hunters that had tried to rush them before lancing out at the cyber-wolf, only to suddenly change course as it was sucked in and absorbed by something on his hand.

"Your most powerful spell? I'm honoured!" Kralk mockingly growled.

"Shit," Alora growled from behind cover. "He's got fire protection."

"It was a good shot, Alora! You still took two others down!" Sephy replied, letting loose with some suppressive fire but unable to get through Kralk's shields before he dipped back into cover, and he was backed up by more hunters laying down constant fire.

We'll need to fall back if we can. Chiyo alerted them. We'll be swamped otherwise!

"I'll take point," Nika whispered into Comms, subtly pushing the door behind them open before she shot back as a quick burst inaccurately spread around the wall where she was.

"Y'ALL AIN'T GETTING OUTTA THERE!" they heard the voice of the Redeemer yell out.

"Dammit Redeemer, you moron! I told you to push in while they were distracted!" Kralk yelled.

"NAH FUCK THAT" the Redeemer yelled back. "Y'ALL CAN RUN IN AND GET THE PUS-"

Distracted, the redeemer barely had time to react as Nika snapped back around and, as accurately as she could, put several quick, heavy bursts into the corner she knew the Redeemer was behind. The first round crumpled through the wall, the second obliterated the rest of it, and the third broke through the Redeemer shields with an audible shatter and smacked him in the chest, the obese avian falling back with a whimpering yell.

“Move now!” Nika yelled at the others.

”Suppressing fire!” Kralk snarled. “REDEEMER YOU COWARD! GET BACK THERE! KEEP THEM PINNED DOWN!”

Chiyo quickly moved back to Nika’s position, but Sephy and Alora had to move back into their original cover as gunfire rained all around them. They couldn’t move.

“Chiyo! Think fast!” Sephy called out as she chucked a grenade into the air, the Ilithii quickly reacting and bending it straight at Kralk, flinging it towards the Vriwul at high speed, before it was shredded by the hail of gunfire and exploded midair, taking out another hunter in the process.

“Fuck!” yelled Sephy as she swapped to her pistols, desperately trying to return fire. Surely the hunters would be running out of juice for their crappy weapons soon, but their cover wasn’t much to look at either.

“I’ve got something for you, Kizun bitch!” they heard a growl over the sounds of gunfire. Xharl had run forward to the centre of the fight, levelling a heavy force-cannon down range right where Nika was. The girls tried to return fire but couldn’t peek out of cover as he began charging up.

Chiyo knew this was bad. She drew her energies as she began to weave a barrier in front of them, preparing to give it everything she had so her friends had a chance of escaping, before Xharl fired with a loud booming noise.

But something weird happened. The blast was blocked by something else, smacking into a suddenly appearing translucent blue barrier, completely rocketing Xharl back and destroying his weapon as his own shot exploded right in front of him.

“Nice work, Chiyo!” Nika let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

But that wasn’t me! Chiyo replied in a panic as she tried to work out what had happened.

The sounds of shots impacting concrete and porcelain had quietened, as if they were muted by something, and were replaced by a light pinging sound like raindrops on the ground, backed by a growl of rolling thunder, though a quick glance at the source of the sound and their sudden saviour stunned the girls for a moment.

The ‘dog’, who had followed along and kept out of the way until now, was snarling and barking at the attackers, as several previously unseen markings all over its body glowed a faint neon blue through its dark grey fur. Its twin tails curled and pointed towards their enemies, as several sparks of electrical energy zapped between the two points, before a bolt of electricity shot out from them at one of the idiots that tried to rush in close to them, taking him out and jumping to another enemy behind cover. A blue sheen was currently deflecting the enemy gunfire as the ‘dog’ kept growling, quickly glancing to Alora.

The Eladrie got the message.

“Sephy! We’re getting out of here!” She moved back to join Nika and Chiyo, with Sephy quickly joining her, not wanting to risk shooting within the barrier without knowing what it was. Luckily, the ‘dog’ followed closely behind as the barrier dissipated, looking at the group expectantly with intelligent, focused eyes.

“We’re not out of the fight yet!” Alora grinned as she quickly cast a powerful spell, pointing a wand just above the doorway they quickly went through as the group retreated to a better position, and firing a small red bead to implant itself above the doorframe. “This’ll teach them!”

******

Both boys got up as quickly as they could, with Svaartal swiftly pulling out a vial from one of his pockets and downing the concoction within, clearly experiencing some kind of discomfort as he did. Jack quickly unhooked his axe from his belt, knowing that he had the advantage as he charged forward, but as he closed the distance and chopped down at the snake's head Svaartal disappeared.

No ..wait…this was another illusion!

Looking around Jack could see many duplicates casting spells as he quickly attacked as many as he could with his axe. His Dominator was low on charge and he had dropped it in the fall, but he knew one good hit with the axe would finish the fight.

He remembered how he beat Svaartal’s trick last time and quickly tried to focus on the telltale sound….Got it!

Taking out his grenade and pulling the pin, Jack feinted throwing it at a group of mirror images close together before lobbing it right at the corner where he could hear the very faint whispering.

Svaartal barely had time to react, casting a quick cantrip to halt the momentum of the grenade just in time, but the explosion was still enough to disrupt his spell, the images and his invisibility shattering as his concentration broke, the blast sending him slamming against the wall with a thundering crack.

Jack wasted no time, rushing in as Svaartal recovered and cast a quick wall of force that Jack crashed into and through, but it slowed the human down long enough for him to get back up. The snake quickly grabbed a set of strange knives out of his holsters before lobbing them at and around Jack

Jack was confused. He knew that throwing knives like that had very little effect in a real fight, that stuff only being done in pop culture. Did Svaartal mess up?

"You missed, assho-" Jack started before he saw the slight smile on the snake's face that made him recognise the danger.

"Skaalp!" the snake hissed as Jack felt a sharp pain explode within him as one of the knives on the ground shot out like a bullet to smack him in the back, barely missing the base of Jack’s spine.

Jack could feel some kind of magic trying to affect him, but whatever it was, the human easily shook it off as he charged forward with his axe, the blade digging deep into the side of the snake's tail before the snake blocked the rest of the swing, having suddenly summoned a sword out of nowhere!

As Jack tried to follow through on his attack by stabbing at Svaartal's face with his offhand switchblade, he was forced to drop it when Svaartal used his razor tongue, nicking his hand and forcing the human back.

Whatever wound Jack had inflicted on the snake should have been a bad one, though it wasn't as deep as he had expected. Either natural armour, magical protection or Svaartal's newly summoned sword had blunted the blow, but the large chunk of flesh torn out of the snake forced Svaartal to quickly close the wound with a healing spell rather than press his counter on Jack.

Both boys stared and circled each other, daring the other to make the first move. Jack was focused on the snake now, as Svaartal moved his glowing blue summoned sword with practised moves, changing his stance in response to how and where Jack was moving, as the human tensed his grip ready for another devastating strike.

"You're pretty good," Jack growled, trying to get in the head of Svaartal. "But that magic won't last forever."

"Likewise, human," Svaartal hissed back. "But how much time do you think your friends have?"

Jack snapped, yelling out a battlecry as he charged forward, Svaartal quickly meeting his attack with one of his own, as the two boys clashed in the centre of the room, each trying to overpower the other. Both boys stared at each other in hatred as Jack slowly pushed Svaartal back with his superior strength.

Thinking quickly, Svaartal cast a quick spell, shooting a shocking jolt of electricity through his sword and forcing a break. He followed through, lunging forwards with his blade and catching Jack on the hip as the human spun around quickly to dodge, clipping Svaartal's shoulder with his axe as he did.

"Skaalp!" Svaartal yelled again, sending another knife shooting towards Jack as he dived away towards a set of desks that were still standing, avoiding the flying knife. Svaartal dashed in closer but was caught off guard and knocked down when the human lobbed a chair at him, smacking him right in the face and bowling him over. Jack charged in to counter attack, but Svaartal got up quickly and slashed up with his sword, releasing an arc of energy that knocked Jack back, scorching the flesh on his arms from where Jack covered his face.

The two boys went at each other with renewed ferocity, scoring cuts and near misses but otherwise being evenly matched. They were both desperate now, knowing that one would have to overcome the other, and soon.

Svaartal eventually won the engagement, having enough for another acid breath that forced Jack back yelling in pain as it caught his chest and shoulder, only for Jack to stamp on something as Svaartal charged, forcing up what was once part of a desk for Svaartal to painfully slam into.

Both combatants were on their last reserves, knowing they’d have to end this quickly. Jack was losing a lot of blood and the others were in trouble, but his adrenaline was pumping, and his will was unbroken. Svaartal was running out of spells and his buffs were running out, but his mother’s sword was serving him well, and he was determined to do her proud and keep his sister safe.

The Nirah struck first, expanding his magical power to the rest of his unactivated homing-knives "Skaalp inia!”

Jack dodged, dipped and dived as best as he moved, avoiding as many knives as he could, though some did still smack into him, each one with a magical effect that Jack could feel try to take hold and fail each time. He dodged behind the cover again Svaartal cast another spell, quickly waving his arms high as with the sound of a thunderclap, creating a shockwave that splintered Jack’s cover and forced everything no longer nailed down to fly into the walls, including Jack who smacked his back against the wall where the knives were still sticking in.

Growling through the pain, he spotted his Dominator a few metres away. Knowing he only had one shot at this he sprinted to his gun as he heard Svaartal casting, pointed it right at Svaartal and snarled “Overcharge!”

Svaartal had used almost everything in his arsenal that he had prepared for the human and knew these next few moments would decide their fates. He had gained respect for the human and his ability to fight back, but he had no intention of showing any mercy. He concentrated hard as he waved his hands and spoke the words of his most powerful spell, one of the few he had managed to decipher and master from his mother’s spellbook. Though she was gone, leaving him and Svaarti alone with their father, he knew she was smiling, and that she’d be proud of his courage. As the human dove for his gun Svaartal finished the spell, pointed his wand at the human and growled “Shri’ak!”

The bolts of blue and red energies collided with each other and reacted violently, turning into a single violet mass that rippled violently in the centre of the room. The air around seemed to get sucked in as the mass shuddered and expanded with a dark growl that got louder and louder, otherworldly screams roaring around them as black streaks lashed out as the reaction became more and more unstable.

“Shit!” growled Svaartal as he quickly dove out of the nearest window, grunting in pain as his descent slowed, his magic ring working as intended when he hit the ground.

Jack heard Svaartal and knew he had to get out too, holstering his weapons and bolting for the stairs. In the space of a few crucial seconds, he had just managed to jump the bannister and land down a few floors when the mass violently exploded, demolishing the building he was in.

Jack couldn’t comprehend much of what happened during the collapse. His body was bludgeoned and battered, and he must have blacked out at least once. All he knew was that when he woke up in pain and shoved the rubble off of him, he could still hear gunfire. The others needed him!

*****

“We hold out here!” Alora called to the others, as she fired another delayed fireball behind them, the red bead implanting itself in the ground before ripping two more attackers apart. They had seen the building collapse and wanted to finish this as soon as possible to look for Jack. They all feared the worst.

“Kill them all!” Nika growled, using Jack’s plasma rifle to lay down suppressing fire on a small squad of attackers that had taken cover behind some rubble. Sephy had gone to an elevated position with Chiyo and was shooting at any of their attackers that tried to peek out of cover, while Chiyo did her best to protect them from retaliatory fire. The ‘dog’ was up front with Nika, now breathing a cone of electricity between barks that kept their foes at a suitable distance while occasionally shooting more lightning bolts from its tail.

“Can’t be too many left!” Alora called out as she sent another firebolt down range. Predictably, Kralk had kept most of his elite squad back while letting the rest of the hunters act as a meat shield. It was cowardly but effective.

But Kralk wasn’t the only leader in the field.

“Chiyo! Look out!” Sephy yelled as she saw Xharl having climbed above them, zipping in with her wings to push Chiyo out of the way as the Xarak jumped down to pound the Ilithii into the ground with his mace, instead clipping Sephy and knocking her off the edge of their position to fall down to the ground with a thump.

No! Sephy!

Chiyo wasted little time, igniting her psi-blade and allowing rage to fill her every pore. I’ll kill you for that, you son of a bitch! She mentally yelled as she floated past the heavy swipe of Xharl’s mace, passed his shield and slashed upwards, forcing him to drop his weapon as she severed his hand.

“Oh the things I’ll do to your body, Ilithii bitch!” Xharl snarled as his hand began to regenerate. “I can take anything you can do to me!”

Can you now? Chiyo defiantly questioned as she floated back, avoiding his swipe.

“Chiyo! Make it work this time!” Sephy groaned from below, throwing a grenade as high as she could.

With pleasure. Chiyo coolly agreed as she sent the grenade straight into Xharl’s face.

The explosion blasted the Xarak back to smack into the wall, his shields and armour completely shredded. Xharl looked up at Chiyo floating above him as his body began to stitch itself together.

Your death will be as insignificant as your life. Chiyo coldly told Xharl, as she pulled a hand back as she pulled a hand back and gathered the full extent of her power before lashing out, liquifying the Xarak’s organs as what remained of his body fell still.

He wasn’t coming back from that.

“Sephy! How badly hurt are you?” Alora quickly dashed to the Skritta, casting a quick healing spell as Chiyo moved up to assist Nika in holding off the other hunters.

“My wing…” Sephy groaned as she got up. “I can still fight but my wing is torn and broken…”

“OH SHIT!” they heard one of the attackers yell from behind as another screamed.

“WHAT’S GOING ON BACK THERE?” Kralk roared as their attackers seemed to be distracted by something.

“HE WON’T GO DOWN!” they heard someone yell. “OH FUCK HE’S GOT AN AXE!”

The girls saw several of the Red Legion aspirants run out of cover away from something, barely noticing as Nika quickly cut them down with plasma fire. Jack was covered from head to toe in all kinds of blood, carrying his axe and pistol and roaring like a maniac as one of the remaining few aspirants charged him, only for Jack to bury his axe in his neck and begin firing at Kralk before the wall behind him suddenly blasted apart and he was pelted by the rubble.

“Get to me if you want to live!” Svaartal yelled at the surviving Red Legion aspirants from the newly created escape route.

“COWARD! YOU SHOW UP NOW?” Kralk yelled at the spellsword as Jack got up and looked Kralk right in the eyes, recognising the leader. In that moment, Kralk knew Svaartal was right and he had to run. He dashed behind the fleeing aspirants rushing to Svaartal, before he stumbled as Nika put a round into his leg.

Chiyo and the ‘Dog’ rushed in through the gap, followed closely by the others, with Alora trying to hold Jack back to heal his injuries before he bled out. The remaining four aspirants were running as fast as they could, with Svaartal surprisingly doing his best to cover them with protection spells and covering spell fire as they made it to the portal he had created, with Kralk taking up the rear with his limp. As the last aspirant made it through Svaartal followed him through, waving a hand as the portal began to disappear.

“SVAARTAL! NO! YOU BASTARD!” Kralk yelled as he ran as fast as he could, diving through nothingness and hitting the ground as the portal completely vanished.

“You reap what you sow, Kralk.” Svaartal dismissed the Vriwul as the group caught up. Kralk tried to raise his gun at them before Alora kicked it away, pointing her wand at him.

“You’ve gone too far this time, Kralk.” the Eladrie angrily told him. “And once again you lose!”

“FUCK YOU!” Kralk roared defiantly. “Fine! You win!”

“She’s won before.” Nika aimed her shotgun at Kralk’s head. “And yet you keep coming back.”

“Wait!” Alora stopped the Kizun. “He’s unarmed and harmless now, are we really going to just execute him?”

Yes! Nika’s right! Chiyo interjected. As long as he lives he’s a danger to all of us. It’s not just about him but anyone that follows him.

“But most of the people that followed him are either dead or have abandoned him!” Sephy pointed out from where she had to sit down, groaning in pain from her injuries. “Every time he loses, he loses the respect of his peers. After a devastating loss like today nobody is going to want to associate with him, and I think we’ve had enough death today.”

“Desperation can drive a person to do some pretty depraved stuff,” Nika cautioned. “Do we really want that on our conscience?”

“As opposed to an execution?” Alora replied.

Jack? Chiyo asked, with Nika translating. What do you think?

“A tiebreaker on if you show me mercy or not?” Kralk snarled.

“Like the mercy you intended to show us?” Jack asked quietly, fully remembering the disgusting threats the cyber-wolf and his companions had made.

“I’d have kept them alive if I could!” Kralk spat.

“I don’t believe you,” Jack replied, his voice barely a whisper.

“So that’s it?” Kralk growled. “Who’s gonna do it then? Could any of you have the balls to-”

A blast of red photon energy blasted Kralk’s head apart before the Vriwul slumped to the ground, dead.

“Yes,” Jack snarled, holstering his Dominator. “I could.”

He slowly turned to the others with a look of cold rage on his face. “Let’s go home.”

*****

“LOOK HERE! LOOK LISTEN!” The Redeemer yelled at Svaartal and the aspirants. “IF Y’ALL PUSSIES HADN’T RUN WE WOULD HAVE WON!”

“Look who’s talking!” one of the aspirants spat. “You ran for the hills as soon as you got fired upon. We stayed behind until Svaartal came back and told us it was lost!”

“IF THIS FUCKING MAGE HADN’T RUN OFF!” The Redeemer yelled between heavy, heaving breaths. “THEN WE WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER!”

“I was fighting the human, you fucking ingrate,” Svaartal replied with a snarl, his patience running thin. They hadn’t teleported far away, going to a wooded grove they had camped at a few districts nearby that, by sheer misfortune, had this idiot waiting for them, having likely done more running in the space of a few minutes than the obese avian had ever done in years. “You knew how dangerous he was and agreed to let me handle him.”

“YEAH, AND YOU DIDN’T!” The Redeemer yelled back. “WE GOTTA GO BACK THERE AND KICK HIS ASS!”

“No,” Svaartal replied, and the aspirants with him, who the Nirah had noticed were the smarter ones who took his advice earlier, sighed in relief.

“LOOK MAN I REALLY NEED THIS MONEY, AND IF YOU WEREN’T BUSY BEING A PUSSY OF A MAGE WE’D WIN! I JUST CAN’T DO IT I CAN’T TAKE THI-”

His words were cut off as Svaartal lashed out, the Redeemer pitifully raising a hand to try and defend himself as Svaartal summoned his Spellstriker sword and swung it at the Redeemer’s head in a guzzle of pink mist, striking again and again as he hacked away in roaring anger. The yells and cries of the Redeemer fell silent, but Svaartal did not stop as he kept chopping in sheer rage while the aspirants around him looked at the Nirah with horror.

Finally Svaartal stopped, his golden scales glistening with gore as he swept a blood-spattered claw through his yellow-white hair, slicking it back. He never had any intention of allowing the Redeemer to live past this encounter. His bounty had been made that much more impressive recently with the addition of an unusually lucrative sum added to the pot from a Lizta clan he had managed to offend while investigating, though even without that amount, Svaartal hated the piece of shit even before seeing his list of offences.

He did consider the fact that both Kralk and Xharl - two people he had previously looked up to as leaders among the Red Legion aspirants - were little better. The threats they had made to the girls were abhorrent, and he hoped that giving up Kralk would serve as a peace offering.

Maybe. Maybe not. All the Nirah knew was that he hated scum like that.

“So what do we do now, Svaartal?” one of the aspirants asked him. The Nirah looked at his group of impromptu followers. One had previously been in Kralk’s group, another had been rejected by Xharl previously, and the other two were known loners. He considered for a moment, unused to being looked up to in this way by anyone that wasn’t his sister.

He had lost, but the human hadn’t won either. Both of them had given everything they had, without being able to overcome the other. Svaartal was surprised when he didn’t feel bad about that. A lifetime of putdowns and consequently being looked down on by others after the death of his mother had shaped Svaartal in a certain way, but with his conflict with Jack, he had broken the mould. He felt like a new person. He had power, and he wanted to use it.

“Nothing,” Svaartal finally answered, still in deep thought. “I think I’m done for now.”

The aspirants looked bewildered as Svaartal turned and started making their way to where Kralk had parked their transport, but followed him nonetheless.