Chapter 27: Penitulus Leaps

Back in Icarus City, there was a significant change in the onslaught. While the vast numbers of creatures had reduced, the strength of those remaining had increased. The city was mostly free of civilians as the Officers and Lower-class Maestros succeeded in the evacuation.

They looked back at the burning city. They felt hurt, they felt lost, but above all, they felt awe. It rose higher than the tallest burning towers. A titan that glowed with a royal purple and swung chains that twisted with life. At the heart of the titan was a strained Corin. Sweat curled from his body in wisps of steam, veins and arteries bulged as he pushed his body to a level he hasn’t reached in a long time. His skin tingled, and his lungs burned. He couldn’t fight for much longer, there was no doubt that his magic was running low.

The glow of the titan he had created around himself began to fade, even so, he still fought. “Why did I have to get old,” he said with a short breath. Soon the glow faded, the titan vanished, and Corin returned to the ground, falling to his knees, gasping for breath. His pocket vibrated. He reached and answered his phone.

His mouth opened slightly. I’m busy, is what he was going to say but the man on the line spoke first. Corin’s eyes widened in realization. He hung up the phone and collected the last of his strength to move to the part of the city seemed to shutter in bouts of thunder.

***

Penitulus threw the last punch, the shock-wave shattered glass. He stood surrounded by vanishing corpses. With the civilians removed he was capable of fighting with more of his full strength though the change was slight, he didn’t want to flatten entire city blocks. Despite his apparent victories, a sunken feeling grew in the pit of his stomach. He had fought Draven before and he knew that the battle wasn’t over until Draven had fallen. The reduced numbers of manifestations meant one of two things. Either he should be bracing for something big, or Draven was distracted.

A movement in the corner of his eye pulled his attention. Penitulus looked in the direction of the approaching titan. He noticed the fading glow and jumped to meet it before it completely vanished. He helped an exhausted Corin to the ground. “You let yourself go,” Penitulus joked.

“So it seems,” Corin agreed. He stood up, shaking off the exhaustion. The look in his eye made Penitulus uneasy. “They’re gone, Ren,”.

“What?”

“The shards, they’re gone.” Penitulus held his breath. “A boy with a tail took it,”

“A tail? No, he wouldn’t, Corin he wouldn’t -“

“I know Ren, he probably had no choice in the matter.” A gust of hot air hit as Victor approached.

“The creatures are gone -” he paused, “What happened?” he asked after the weight of the atmosphere hit him.

“We think Draven has the Exacore,” Corin said.

“What, how?” They didn’t answer.

“So what, we’re just gonna stand here and wait for him to detonate the biggest bomb the world has ever seen!?”

“He can’t be too far,” Penitulus stated, “Even with his abilities he can’t be too far, I may be able to find him, but-.”

“But what,” Victor grated, “Something might happen while your gone, don’t you think we can protect ourselves?”

“That’s not what I said,” Penitulus answered.

“It’s what you implied,” Victor said, “Ren, find Draven and bring him down if anything happens here me and the old man will -,”

“Not me, I’m out of this one,” Corin said as he sat on a piece of rubble. Victor rolled his eyes.

“Fine, I’ll take care of it,” Penitulus looked at him with worried eyes, then a slight grin crept onto his face.

“I’ll leave it to you, Victor.” He said just before leaping hundreds of meters into the air. There he could see the entire city laid out before him. He focused, he focused all the energy stored in his body into his eye’s. Blood welled like tears but he saw what he was looking for, small island miles from the coast. The image was small and unclear, but there was no doubt in his mind that Draven was there. He fell back down to earth but stayed for only split second. With more strength than he mustered in a long time, he leaped up and forward. The action caused the ground beneath him to shatter, and the shock-wave may have made a few buildings topple.