Interlude: The Tinebrand

The battle had been a grueling affair. Dario wasn’t prepared for things to go on this long. What kind of freak mage had this much mana? It had been hours!

Smoke wafted throughout the battlefield. It a was a mess of broken buildings and fire. The sky had been long obscured by the twisted mage's spell.

Dario still couldn’t get a read on exactly what he was dealing with. The mage had a powerful identity obscuring enchantment.

Suddenly, an old wrecked car flashed with a white light and was whipped through the air at Dario. He barely sidestepped the hunk of metal before seeing the bolt of shadow hidden behind it. It took him square in the chest and he landed on his back. He slid a few feet, the concrete tearing up the exposed skin on his shoulders.

With a groan, Dario began to climb to his feet. He wasn’t sure of the mage's position. They could launch spells from almost anywhere. The freak hadn’t even spoken before he started wrecking the town.

It wasn’t Dario’s first rodeo, but these guys usually liked to monologue at least a little bit before they got down and dirty.

It wouldn’t matter if Dario didn’t know the mage's position. Especially now that nearly everything around him was destroyed anyway.

He squatted in the middle of the road, and activated [Inferno Trigger]. The flames greedily responded to him, erupting in every direction and devouring anything in their path.

As the flames dispersed, nearly nothing remained around Dario. The heat had burned so powerfully that even the cars near him were reduced to simmering piles of molten metal.

His [Threat Analysis], was still triggering, however. The mage had been hit, but he wasn’t out of commission. Dario began moving, standing around with no cover might be suicide. He knew that the mage hadn’t revealed their entire hand yet.

He ran forward and activated [Flame Stride]. A trail of fire belched from the pavement behind him and his speed nearly tripled. He would make his way deeper into the town where some buildings still stood.

A specter materialized in front of Dario, slashing at him with a wicked blade. Dario simply used his momentum from [Flame Stride] and shoulder checked the apparition. It fell into his fiery wake and screeched from behind Dario.

[Threat Analysis] still wasn’t providing him with the exact location of his opponent. The identity obscuring enchantment was too powerful for that, but Dario knew the mage was still nearby. There had to be an effective limit to his casting range.

“I’ll fucking kill you! You hear me!” Dario shouted and he meant every word.

Good people lived in this town. But Dario would be surprised if any of them lived at all, now. He wasn’t just venting his anger, though, and hoped his outburst would goad the mage into action.

It seemed to do the job as a cloaked figure stepped out of the remains of the town hall. The edgy bastards always need to have a dramatic flair, Dario thought.

Dario wasted no time before rushing towards the mage, but quickly found himself cut off by a shadowy barrier. The mage approached with a similarly shadowy blade in his hands. He thrusted through the barrier and the sword simply passed through. It had nearly taken Dario straight through the chest.

The attack didn’t break Dario’s concentration, however. He had dealt with barriers before. This one had a gimmick, but it hardly mattered. Every barrier had its limit.

Dario’s [Ember Heart] activated and his arms flared up with renewed flame. He began pounding on the barrier, one fist after the other. The mage continued to harass him with the sword, eventually scoring a hit against Dario’s shoulder.

It didn’t matter, though. Dario could feel the mage weakening through his [Threat Analysis]. The mage must have gotten near only because they were desperate. Their mana must have been running low and they knew Dario would find them without whatever was obscuring their identity.

Another few blows were all it took before Dario crushed through the barrier. He swatted the blade away and grabbed the mage by his throat, all the while flames began crawling up his fingers.

“You’re dead.” Said Dario.