I spun and scrammed. Takezo caught up, slashed open my backpack, took out the last vortex bomb, pulled the lever, and threw it behind.

  We ran down the stairs. Salieu flew after us, blue, ghostly flame wreathing his entire form. A tendril of flame shot out from one of his mechanical arms.

  It hit me in the back. Pain burst through me, my mind slipping. My vision swirled, but then stabilized as the bomb exploded. The explosion threw Salieu against the wall, interrupting his spell.

  Takezo caught my shoulder to stabilize me. Thanks to him, I didn’t fall. We ran down the floor.

  Takezo threw a rock from his pocket at the bomb we planted at the laboratory. He hit the lever perfectly. The vortex swirled around the bomb.

  We kept running.

  Salieu caught up, strangely fast in his floating. But he stopped for a second as he noticed the second bomb.

  That gave us time to run down. I kicked the lever at the bottom bomb, and Takezo threw a rock at the one above, triggering it too.

  We continued running through the corridor.

  One turn, the curtain, and then the exit through the gap.

  Explosions thundered behind us, tearing apart the entire laboratory.

  We broke into a sprint.

  A demon roar blasted from behind. Salieu flew out from the collapsing building, blue flame swirling behind him.

  We kept running, and he bolted after us. We ran fast, but he flew a lot faster.

  We barely cleared the plain, the empty patch before he reached us. His flame descended on us in small meteors, bombarding the entire area.

  I didn’t bother with dodging or blocking, just gritting my teeth to withstand the onslaught.

  Takezo blurred near me, dodging and bobbing and weaving and slashing. The small meteors hit us both, anyway.

  My vision blurred again, and pain overwhelming my senses. I kept running though. When I ran, I didn’t feel damage from the original hit. So, Salieu’s flame didn’t actually damage the body. They hurt the mind, tailored to cause extreme pain above all else.

  But I didn’t need my mind to run.

  Takezo slammed the power core into my midsection. I grabbed it, maintaining my run.

  He drew his sword, stabilized his stance, and slashed. Black lightning cleaved the air. It missed, blasting next to Salieu.

  Though it made him stop firing for a moment.

  The demon laughed in a mad cackle but kept his distance. He summoned more of the burning meteors, even smaller and thus faster ones.

  We ran into a collapsed building complex. Salieu’s flames passed straight through the building, as if it wasn’t there, hitting us at full force.

  There was no taking cover against this.

  We ran through the building, and I could see the sides of the trap layout ahead. My vision blacked out a few times, yet I kept running. I didn’t need to see to move, and for as long as I had the power core, he would follow us.

  The path took us up on a toppled skyscraper’s side. Unsteady footing didn’t slow me down. But something larger hit me in the back, making me scream in pain.

  I ran up the building and received another hit. This time, my knees gave out, and I fell, close to the edge of the pit that made our trap. I couldn’t see if Takezo was around, nor could I hear him.

  I couldn’t hear anything other than Salieu’s mad cackle. The sound approached. Salieu floated to me. “You will pay for the crime until your soul falls apart. And the other rat, too.”

  My vision returned. I couldn’t see Takezo. Didn’t matter. I sprang my body, jumped up, and grabbed Salieu by a leg as he floated above me. Flame burst from him, blinding me. But I already knew it was just pain.

  I planted my foot, turned, and slammed him on the floor.

  The flame exploded around, but chaotically, not in a controlled manner. His mechanical arms stabbed at me though. Piercing my arm. It didn’t dig deep, just barely under the skin.

  “You want to fight?” I shouted. I lifted him up and slammed him again on my other side. “Come fight me then, floating piece of shit.” I stepped up to him and kicked him, ribs crunching under my shin.

  He spun from the kick, floating back up, but I didn’t let go of his ankle. With my free hand, I grabbed the power core that landed near me. It shone blue, but it was also made of heavy steel.

  Salieu shot with his arm at me, hitting me with a blast of blue flame square in the chest. That hurt. But I barely registered the pain. I got hurt too much today to care about more.

  I pulled him to me using the ankle and then spun, slamming the power core into his chest. Another crunch. The impact slammed him to the floor. I stepped up to him and swung the core like a sledgehammer.

  He twisted his body, bolting up from the floor. The core hit where he lay with a thunderous boom.

  I still held his ankle though, so I pulled him back down. As he descended, he caught my shoulder with his normal hand. His steel hands started spinning like drills and shot at my chest.

  I couldn’t dodge.

  But Takezo appeared near us and swung his blade. The cut cleanly severed three of Salieu’s arms. He screeched in pain.

  With a swift step, I rammed my helmet into his face. His nose crunched, and he reeled back. I spun, finally let go of his leg, and with both hands, I slammed the power core into his chest. I swung at a downwards angle. The hit shattered his chest and sent him falling into the pit.

  Takezo threw another rock, with which he triggered the first prepared vortex bomb.

  The bombs went off in the chain, creating a massive wind vortex.

  Takezo and I both had to drop to the ground so as to not get sucked in.

  Salieu tried to pull away, but the combined vortex didn’t let go. Magical power swelled from him, the very air trembling.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The bombs went off with a thunderous explosion. For a split second, I heard nothing, a heatwave blasting past me from the pit.

  Takezo jumped off into the pit, sword held high.

  I moved a bit closer to see.

  The explosion burnt Salieu. He stood on his feet, the arms and tubes destroyed, but his body mostly intact.

  Takezo landed straight in front of him, slashing with his sword. Black lightning exploded upon contact. His blade nearly cut Salieu in two.

  Blood burst into the air. Salieu collapsed, his flame fading.

  “Got him.” Takezo slashed the blood off his blade and sheathed it.

  I got up, recovering from the explosion. I jumped down. “How did he survive that?”

  “I’ll explain on the way.”

  I picked up Salieu. He didn’t weigh much, so I threw him over my shoulder. We headed out of the pit through a new path, which the explosions opened.

  Once we got out, heading to the portal, Takezo cleared his throat. “Higher level mages compartmentalize their power. They use a smaller amount, and when threatened, they fuel themselves with a massive temporary boost. The power swell from the pit before the explosion was Salieu using a larger power release to survive the explosion.”

  “Can you do it?”

  “No,” he admitted. “In terms of the System, it’s called Nova release, and it’s on level seventy-five.”

  Right, that. Isabella mentioned it. Actually, she even showed it when she was about to die against Kallisto, how she floated into the air and cast the massive black hole spell, which was completely outside of what she normally used. My insides clenched upon the memory. She survived, but still, she almost died there.

  We made a turn onto another street, and Takezo instantly drew his sword.

  The six-horned demon, sword in hand, stood fifty yards in front of us.

  Sora, just demonified, and now serving Kallisto. He looked almost the same as back in the tower, just with six horns, wearing a full samurai outfit, decorated with Kallisto’s demonic symbology.

  I glanced at Takezo. “We should run.”

  Takezo shook his head. "No point. He’s faster."

  Sora didn't say anything. Instead, he moved.

  One second he was fifty yards away, the next, he was in my face. I barely dodged the sword swipe. It cut the air with a high-pitched whistle, slicing me across the chest. My blood sprayed from the wound.

  Takezo stepped in, intercepting Sora with his own blade. The clash sounded like bells, black lightning blasting from Takezo’s blade. Sora won the clash though, knocking aside Takezo’s blade before he stabbed him through the gut.

  Both Takezo and I jumped away, Sora’s blade slashing the air where we stood a second ago. The swing released a shockwave that still lightly cut us.

  Too much.

  He was way too much.

  “Split,” Takezo snapped, and bolted sideways.

  Damn it. I darted the other direction.

  Within an instant, Sora was at me, slashing wide at my throat.

  I bent back. The blade hit me horizontally across the collarbone, blood spraying out again. It also cut Saleiu’s arm, the one I used to hold him over my back.

  With a backstep, I caught the unconscious Salieu, and pulled him to my chest, partly to not let go of him, mostly to use him for a shield.

  Sora stepped in, switching stance for a stab.

  Takezo appeared behind him.

  Sora whirled, turning the stance into a downwards swing. Takezo barely dodged, abandoning his strike to not get cut in half.

  Downwards on the strike, Sora turned the blade, shifted his weight, and cut upwards. His sword cut Takezo across the chest, deeply, blood gushing out.

  I stepped in to help. But chains caught me, from behind, and yanked me in the other direction.

  Isabella.

  So, she did come. My eyes watered.

  More chains flooded past me.

  Sora whirled, slashing apart the chains that got close to him. But more sneaked around, caught Takezo, and pulled him sideways and then towards us.

  I reached her first. She wore the same clothes as in the morning, standing on the side of a roof, eyes cold, hair stretched out in chains all around her.

  Sora bolted towards us.

  Isabella redirected most of her chains towards him, trying to wrap or catch him.

  Sora’s blade blurred through the air, slashing apart everything that got close to him. But it slowed him down enough for Isabella to get Takezo behind her as well.

  Her hair withdrew from Sora, catching the cut-off pieces. She spread her arms as if in an invitation. “Nova release.”

  An overwhelming pressure of pure magical power squeezed me. All my veins caught ablaze, organs getting crushed, muscles failing, lungs emptying, unable to breathe. From the corner of my eye, I saw Sora suffering the same, completely immobilized, blood bursting from his mouth.

  It didn’t fall though. Nothing fell. The sheer force gushing out from her held everything floating, the air suddenly thicker than water.

  Sora stopped, taking a stance with his sword held with both hands in front of him.

  Isabella aimed her arms at Sora. The world around us broke like fracturing glass. The fractured lines all converged at Sora.

  He bolted backwards, and a black hole popped into reality where his face was a split second ago.

  He stabbed the sword in the ground, holding himself with all he could.

  The black hole devoured all light, drawing in everything from the street and beyond, bending steel beams of toppled skyscrapers.

  Isabella turned her hair from chains back into hair and moved them to cover us.

  The black hole imploded into nothing, and then burst into a world-shattering explosion.

  The released shockwave fired us into the air like a bullet. Isabella used the hair to both shield us and to direct our flight. We landed in front of the portal.

  Isabella’s hair grabbed a large steel barrel, which awaited her by the portal. She raised it above us and tore it apart.

  Blood splashed all three of us.

  In front of us on the street, Sora landed. He had two of the six horns broken, blood trickling from his ears and mouth corners, large amount of bruising on half of his body. Yet he moved normally. He bolted towards us.

  Isabella withdrew all her hair, jerking me into the portal. I fell through, together with Salieu. Half of him made it through, but he got stuck at the hips as the blood from the barrel missed his legs.

  Isabella tore that part from him using her hair. I fell on the portal’s other side, inside the depot.

  Isabella jumped into the portal, landing near me.

  Takezo drew the scroll of challenge from his pocket, threw it at Sora, and jumped backward, just as the six-horned demon was about to reach him.

  Takezo landed next to us. His knees gave out, so he immediately collapsed on the floor.

  Not that I did any better, lying flat on the floor, still clutching Salieu… or, whatever remained of him.

  “Chair,” Isabella snapped. With her hair, she pried Salieu from my clutch and threw him into the prepared containment chamber.

  Simon locked the containment chamber. With a wave of his hand, the runes embedded in the cage’s walls shone to life. Faint, blue light filled the chamber.

  Marge rushed to Isabella, dragging a chair. She put it to Isabella.

  Isabella crashed into the chair. She exhaled, color withdrew from her face, and she started trembling.

  Out of nowhere, she looked so frail and weak. I grunted, pain slowly becoming less blinding. Yeah, I was bleeding from like a dozen different wounds, some of them deep. But I had the damn endurance for a reason, and right now, I needed to get the Hell up. I dragged myself to my feet, facing Isabella. “Will you be all right?”

  “Yes,” she pushed out through clattering teeth. Her lips started catching an unnaturally blue shade. “I’ll just be exhausted for a while.”

  “How long a while?” I asked.

  “Let her rest,” Marge snapped. “She’s utterly spent.”

  I glared at them. She looked like she was dying, so this wasn’t a good excuse. “Why does she look half-dead then?”

  Isabella smiled, teeth clattering. “That’s how my Nova release works. I push about eighty percent of my total magical power into myself and use it all to cast a single spell. That takes a toll on the body. A high toll, which takes me about a week to recover from. I’ll be all right. Don’t worry.”

  That made no sense. “Why would you use the power release in a such an absurd way? Can’t you just pace it to use the power normally?”

  “I could. But it wouldn’t be useful.” She exhaled. “This isn’t something to learn though. I do this because one day, my master might need my help in some way. The only way I could ever be of use to him is with all my power in one spell. I’m just not that strong. But you can have a proper nova release, one day.”

  Hmph. I saw a hint of a sense in that. Exhaustion washed over me, my mind slipping out of focus. I had bled so much that it glued my clothes to me. Though I lacked the strength to even remove my jacket to put it on her.

  With a grunt, Takezo started getting up, spitting blood.

  Oh, that. I stepped to him. With a gentle grip, I pulled him up to his feet. “Are you alive?”

  “No.” He snorted. “This is just my corpse rising to haunt you.”

  That got a chuckle out of me. I glanced at Isabella, but she had already passed out on the chair. Well, I wasn’t going to wake her up, but admittedly, this suited me. I headed to the exit, glancing at Simon along the way. “Please, tell Isabella I’m taking a week of PTO.”

  Simon nodded. “Sure, but she needs to approve it first.”

  Takezo stopped by Isabella, slightly bowed, and whispered thanks in Japanese.

  Right. I didn’t even thank her. Guilt knotted my insides, but I headed for the exit anyway. I had something to do, and I couldn’t wait for Isabella.

  I was going to be gone by the time she woke up. With Takezo on my tail, I walked up from the depot. We left the depot completely, and I slid into Isabella’s car.

  Takezo sat next to me. “She won’t be happy you stole her car.”

  “I’m not stealing it. I’m just taking it to her garage.” With a faint smirk, I turned the key in the ignition. And I was finally getting to drive it.