Amelia’s head jerked back, her nose barely avoiding a glint of slicing steel.

A giant seven-foot-tall behemoth of a man jabbed his oversized knives at her chest, so rapidly, with so much power in each push, that it took everything she had just to keep herself moving. Her eye could barely keep up, and her body followed suit in its sluggish reactions.

Without the Boost Module, she would certainly already be dead.

Dimples, they called him.

She had heard of him. A scary serial killer of something. Barely ever came up, until just this moment.

He threw one of the knives and it went spinning at her face—

Amelia ducked, it passed over her—

The man stretched out an arm, and the spinning knife stopped and shot right back into his empty hand.

Without another moment’s hesitation, he began another round of jabs. She blocked one knife with her arm, swinging it to the side to knock it away from him—but after a mighty slap his grip stayed firmly on his weapon. The knife moved forward and went right through Amelia’s right shoulder.

No pain—it was just rock, after all. But now she had a large weapon sticking out of her that made it very difficult to maneuver. Jerked to the side to avoid her throat getting sliced open. Shuffled her feet around to make sure her body could not get a second of rest, to make sure Dimples could not center a target on her.

Just feet away, Korath tangled with the half-dozen guards Castien had set up to attack them. Four blade-wielding orcs, a human with a rifle, and a dwarf with a crossbow. Cannon fodder, really, and Korath clearly relished the chance to deal with them.

He pressed his palm to an orc’s chest, shouted in an unrecognizable tongue, and pushed. The essence of the orc’s soul blasted out the other side like a puff of smoke, then his limbs thrashed around wildly and smashed into his nearby allies.

Before any of them could react, Korath hopped into the air—landed on top of the flailing orc’s shoulders. His head hit the ceiling before he could duck down, but he stayed steady and watched as the rest of his foes scrambled in confusion.

The orc’s limbs still swung out of control, and one arm smashed clear through the thin wall. Finally, the whole body gave out and tumbled onto the sofa closest to the front entrance and sprawled out. Already a corpse.

As the body crashed, Korath leapt off and landed on his feet right next to the bald human whose rifle was in no position to defend against him.

“I’ll take that.” He elbowed her in the stomach and pulled the rifle from her grip. Before she could make a move, he fired it straight through her chest.

Amelia’s ears rang as always, but did not stop her. She was here to keep pushing Dimples back until he got into range of Korath, who was rapidly reloading the rifle in these faint seconds with the other guards too dazed to understand.

She charged Dimples and rammed into his torso, screaming at the top of her lungs to keep him as dazed as possible. Pushed forward with all her strength, at the very least to keep him in place. He did not scream back. Utterly silent except breaths and occasional grunts, all disguised by that white, smiling mask.

Then—

Amelia felt a sharp pain in her neck, Her breaths became harder. Then her torso began to shake. An immense pressure against her.

Amelia!

Warning! Internal body damage detected.

Systems damaged.

He’s using force magic!

Dammit! She walked right into the only attack that could render her completely useless.

Her body started to give into the pain. She felt herself grow weaker, but could not allow herself to give in. The man held tight in her arms exerted immense pressure and refused to give in, either.

“Korath...” she moaned.

He turned around rapidly and shot a shard of ice from his hands. It flew past Dimples and grazed his arm, then shattered against the wall.

Dimples let go of his focus on Amelia. Looked over to Korath. Flicked his hands and sent a kinetic wave his way. The tremendous pressure on Amelia released and she did everything she could to avoid collapsing onto the floor. She ached everywhere.

But Korath was not fast enough, not sturdy enough to go toe-to-toe with this masked monster. She had to re-engage him, even if it damaged. her. So, instead of falling down, she activated [Shock Pummel] and barreled into Dimples’s back.

Her right fist made contact and a ripple of energy flowed into him. But something was wrong. He should have been pushed, should have flown through the air like a straw-made training dummy. Instead, he took the blow standing and barely even registered it.

She realized what it was when she finally felt the texture of the punch. Underneath his cloak was body armor—the energy-absorbing kind that treated damage like a battery treats a recharge. He was completely prepared for what Amelia had to offer.

Without even turning to face her, Dimples shot his elbow backward and smashed it against her chin. She stumbled and clutched her face just as the blood began to pour out. Then he unleashed more force magic blasts at Korath and knocked him into the wall on the opposite side of the shack. The dwarf with a crossbow, caught in the crossfire, found herself ripped to shreds without any shielding to protect her. Her body painted the wall with blood splatter, and the crossbow hit the floor, firing off a shot that ripped through the curtain in the main entrance and flew out into the Night Markets.

Now Amelia and Korath were at opposite ends of the shack. In one sense, they had Dimples surrounded. But in a truer sense, he had successfully separated them, keeping them from helping each other. With three orc guards still remaining, even if they could avoid Dimples, they were still trapped.

Amelia looked up. Castien. He had teleported onto the second floor just as the fight began. Had he escaped yet? It had been thirty seconds, maybe a minute. One of the longest minutes of Amelia’s life, that was for sure.

Her Scan Module said no. His energy signature still flickered through the ceiling, but it was not standing still. It swayed as if any second from now it could take off.

Castien is still gathering mana, but he’s not leaving.

He’s waiting for you to die, I think.

Let’s not do that. :)

“Absolutely not.”

Dimples may have been the prime threat here, but Korath could hold on for another few seconds.

Amelia aimed her right hand up into the air and activated [Mana Burst]. A wasteful, time-consuming attack, and yet when it fired its erratic ripples of purple energy, she felt nothing but joy.

The beams hit the ceiling and cracked apart the wooden floorboards, the shoddy metal foundations. The second floor collapsed and crashed down onto everyone on the ground floor. A long, thin plank hit Amelia in the head and dazed her—only then did she stop the [Mana Burst].

There. Falling. Castien himself, caught by surprise, and she saw his shocked eyes meet hers in mid-air.

But then with a wave of mana—

He disappeared again and all that hit the floor was more broken wood, more bent metal.

Again? Really?

Another teleportation.

He’s outside now.

On the move. Hurry!

The entire shack was going to collapse if this fight continued, but there was still no clear way out, with Dimples and three orc guards taking up most of the space in the room. The rubble from the hole she blasted had shocked everyone else into freezing for just a second, and that was the only opportunity she and Korath had.

Amelia looked at her elven partner. “Castien’s running,” she mouthed silently.

Korath nodded with furrowed brows, as if to communicate, “Right behind you.”

With that, Amelia used [Slice] and turned her right arm into a sharpened blade. She cut in an orc guard’s direction and went right through his throat. Direct hit. His body slumped over immediately. She hopped backwards to avoid a kinetic blast from Dimples and found herself right in front of the torn-up curtain at the entrance.

Time to leave.

With the shoddy shack breaking apart before her very eyes, Amelia dashed back out into the Night Markets, where the massive crowd of joyous glossals rambled down the street, blissfully unaware of the battle barely covered up colorful booths and loud music.

That ignorance was about to be shattered, because Amelia spotted Castien running south, crashing into others and pushing them out of the way. She did the exact same thing, but with bounding boosted steps that made sure her stride was greater than his.

She shoved a kappa out of the way and leapt forward to cover more distance. Then an arrow whizzed by her face and collided with a seller’s booth. She looked behind her and saw the two remaining orcs in hot pursuit, with Korath and Dimples close behind.

A scream.

Several screams.

The lively crowd had shifted instantly into panic, into a frenzied stampede of glossals trying to get out of the way.

Absolutely the worst possible way to navigate the Night Markets now. Before, she could push and shove her way towards Castien. Now, everyone scrambled so randomly that she could hardly even budge without running head-first into a scared centaur.

Another arrow plunged into her back—luckily, the rocky side of her—and stuck firmly in place. She ignored it and kept on going.

Castien suddenly stopped in the middle of the street. As he turned around, he did so with a demon-esque smirk, and then disappeared with another teleportation spell. Amelia’s Scan Module picked him up again on the roof of a two-story building, where now he could run with no more civilian interference.

Dammit. He was going to get away. She could keep tracking him to a point, but beyond that he would disappear from her filters entirely. That was manageable, though. All she had to do was keep on his trail long enough to exhaust him. And she knew she had more stamina than that skinny elf could ever muster.

Korath, on the other hand, probably could not keep up that long. But after the stunt he pulled, she was pretty sure she was going to just kill him anyway.

Castien pulled ahead as he ran across the rooftops, as he jumped from building to building with graceful leaps. Amelia swerved through the chaos on the ground, with every twitch of her Boost Module saving her from trampling over a goblin family or butting heads with a human. Dodging arrows, too. She was going as fast as she could, but it was not nearly enough.

She tensed up and realized she only had one good option here.

Warp Module?

You’ve practiced it a lot.

Do you think you’re ready?

Or maybe you don’t have a choice.

...

Very well then.

Amelia summoned all the concentration she could muster. In a chase this fraught, that was not a great amount. She just prayed to whatever Gods would listen that it worked.

She looked at the roof. At Castien’s quickly fading figure.

And then a shift in her body—

Bzzzt!

Suddenly she was in the air... Right in front of the rooftop. Two stories up, just across from a surprise-stunned Castien—but grappling with nothing and too far from the ledge to grab on.

Castien shook his head. “So close.”

Instantly, gravity intervened and Amelia plummeted back to the ground. Right on top of a booth selling stuffed dolls. Crash.

Amelia bounced back to her feet and saw Castien’s expression as he stood still, looking down at her. No fear, just curiosity. She stared back, wondering if or when she could strike and actually manage to make an impact.

The orcs finally caught up to her, but one foolishly got just close enough for her to send a [Mana Burst] and fry them out of existence. The other, Korath took care of by grabbing hold of his back and draining the life force out of him until he was but a husk. Dimples was close behind, preoccupied with attacking civilians who ran through the streets in terror. She wanted to help them, but it was not possible here. Not even close.

Castien still did not move.

“What’s going on?” Korath asked.

“I think he wants to talk to us,” Amelia said. She cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted to Castien, “We accept your surrender.”

But Castien did not have a witty reply. Nothing but a smile and a hand ruffling through his cloak.

Then, before Amelia could register what was happening, she realized it was already too late. Castien held up the vortex amulet and sent a wave of mana into it.

The amulet activated, and the massive wave came out to greet them. Korath held up both hands and projected a powerful shield over himself and Amelia, just as the howling winds burst forth and shot down into the Night Markets.

Then Castien ran away again.

A full tornado unleashed into a cramped city street. A massive rainstorm that swept through without even the barest semblance of mercy. The booths around them ripped apart, their goods tossed around like weightless playthings, and the people around them helpless to the sudden storm’s fatal fury.

Korath’s shield cracked within seconds. Two places, then three. The rain was so intense that everything around them went blue.

Amelia grabbed his upper arm and screamed over the sound of the wind, “Hang on!”

“What are you—”

Amelia activated the Warp Module again, this time with Korath in tow. She could not see the destination, but she focused herself—

Bzzzzzt!

Flash.

Feet on shaky wood.

No rain in view, just the screeching sound of gale winds.

They made it! Amelia had successfully teleported onto the rooftop, with Castien still not too far ahead, and Korath right by her side. The carnage below was ripping through buildings, tearing the shacks apart, including the one below their feet. They were hardly out of danger yet.

So Amelia and Korath bolted in Castien’s direction, doing their best to close the distance between them. The Night Markets ended, and the rooftops went from quick-built homes to sturdy stone-built offices. Up ahead, the rooftops turned into second-story walkways. Winding, lifted paths with stairs all hanging over the vehicle-heavy street below. In the daytime, this place would have been just as crowded as the Night Markets. But past sunset, it was thankfully abandoned aside from one patrolling golem whose body was severed as soon as Castien passed it.

These lifted walkways led to various second story entrances to offices and one shopping mall. A train station, too. But Castien was headed for none of those; instead, he made his way to the large glass dome exterior of some fancy banquet hall right at the southern edge of the city, up against the city wall.

The elf blasted his vortex amulet again, but this time Amelia was ready for it. Before the tornado could reach them, she grabbed Korath’s arm again and teleported to another part of the walkway. The winds missed them. Kept on moving and tore up everything in its path.

Castien continued to run towards the banquet hall, but slower now. Two vortex amulet attacks, two teleportations. He had a lot taken out of him, surely. The elf was getting tired, but Amelia was just getting started.

She and Korath, bounding with exhaustion and energy and allied with an extremely tenuous partnership, continued to stalk their prey.