Chapter 490: Facing Gaspar at Brigantine

The group ran as fast as they could.

Lucy led the way with Keith on her shoulders, one of his arms hanging weakly over her chest while she kept a firm grip around his legs. Even with his weight and her own exhaustion, she did not slow down.

Behind her, Tommy and Mei pushed the handcart together.

The wheels rattled wildly over the uneven ground as they forced it toward the shore. Emily remained unconscious inside, hidden beneath the rough covering Tommy had prepared. Every violent shake of the cart made Tommy’s stomach twist, but stopping was not an option.

Rachel and Ryan followed behind them.

Bullets continued to fly through the darkness.

Rachel raised one hand and summoned another wide, red barrier behind the group. The translucent wall moved with them as they ran, catching bullet after bullet in bursts of crimson light.

But the attackers did not relent.

The barrier shook under the repeated impacts.

Rachel could protect them from the shots directly behind them, but keeping the shield stable while running over uneven ground was difficult. Each step disrupted her focus. Each bullet forced her to spend more energy.

Some shots came from angles she could not fully cover.

That was where Ryan stepped in.

Dark-green plasma flickered around his arm as he moved beside Rachel, watching the flashing headlights and the shapes moving through the dark. Whenever a bullet came through one of Rachel’s blind spots, Ryan struck it with a burst of wind or redirected it with plasma before it could reach the others.

Still, the motorcycles were the greater threat.

The men on foot could not keep up with them.

The riders could.

Another bike raced toward the front of the group, trying to cut them off before they reached the water. Its rider wore a smug grin beneath the harsh light of the headlamp.

He believed he had them trapped.

Then Ryan moved.

Ryan stomped his foot against the ground and launched himself upward.

The motorcycle rider looked up just in time to see a shadow appear beside him.

His grin disappeared.

Ryan’s kick struck him across the face with enough force to throw him completely off the bike. The motorcycle swerved violently, scraping across the ground before crashing into the grass. The rider rolled through the dirt and came to a stop several feet away.

Ryan landed lightly.

He did not waste time looking back.

"Just there!" Ryan shouted. "Come on!"

The shore was finally visible.

Past the grass, moonlight reflected across the water. The boats waited near the edge of the lake, barely visible in the dark but close enough now that Tommy could make out the shape of the motorboat he had prepared.

They had almost reached it.

Almost.

Then a figure stepped calmly into their path.

He walked out from the darkness as though there were no bullets, no screaming men, and no desperate escape happening around him.

Gaspar stopped between them and the water.

Lucy came to an immediate halt.

Tommy and Mei stopped the cart before it could strike her. Both of them stood there breathing hard, their faces drained of color.

Keith lifted his head weakly from Lucy’s shoulder.

Rachel’s barrier flickered.

Ryan stopped running.

For a second, nobody spoke.

Gaspar looked at them with a faint smile.

Then his gaze fell on Ryan.

Ryan moved instantly.

He rushed past Lucy and the others, putting himself between Gaspar and the people behind him.

Gaspar laughed quietly.

"You know," he said, shaking his head, "when I planned to use Mei to lure you out, I didn’t expect you to come to me on your own."

He laughed again.

"Fuck. You really are saving me a lot of time, Ryan."

Ryan’s expression remained cold.

His right hand clenched into a fist.

The black chain-like tattoos around his arm began to glow with a deep green light, responding to his power.

Gaspar noticed.

His smile widened.

"You don’t actually think this will end differently from last time, do you?"

He tilted his head.

"And I was holding back then."

Ryan stared at him.

"And what outcome do you see?"

Gaspar’s eyes moved past Ryan toward Mei.

His smile became uglier.

"You’ll all get caught," he replied. "Then I’ll make you submit."

He spoke as though he was discussing something simple.

Something inevitable.

"I’ll hurt every person you care about until you become my good little obedient puppy."

His gaze returned to Ryan.

"You care a lot about Mei, right?"

Ryan did not answer.

He activated Time Freeze.

The world went silent.

The gunfire stopped in midair.

Bullets hung frozen above the ground.

The wind stopped moving.

Gaspar’s cruel smile remained fixed on his face.

Ryan was the only one who could move.

Dark-green wind blades gathered rapidly around his right arm, tearing through the sleeve of his shirt as they formed. The air around him trembled with their force.

Then Ryan rushed forward.

He crossed the distance between them in an instant.

Gaspar’s Symbiote reacted even while its host was trapped in frozen time. Yellowish plasma tentacles burst outward from Gaspar’s body, striking toward Ryan with sharp, whip-like movements.

Ryan pulled his hand axe free.

He swung it down.

The blade cut through the first tentacles, scattering burning fragments of yellow plasma into the frozen air.

But more came.

The Symbiote kept producing them, forcing Ryan back for only a second before he clenched his teeth and released even more power.

Wind erupted around his right arm.

The blades expanded into a swirling mass, twisting around him like a small tornado. Ryan stomped down and propelled himself forward, cutting through the plasma tendrils that tried to block his path.

More tentacles lashed toward him.

Ryan’s left eye turned green, using the Kinetic Reverse.

The final wave of plasma tentacles was violently repelled, thrown backward by an invisible force before they could touch him.

The Ravager Symbiote shifted immediately into defense.

Yellow plasma covered Gaspar’s side, hardening into a protective layer of armor over his body.

Ryan did not hesitate.

He condensed the wind blades around his right fist.

Every strand of compressed air gathered tighter and tighter until his arm seemed surrounded by a dense, violently spinning green aura.

Then he threw his punch.

Time resumed.

BOOOOM!

A massive shockwave erupted across the shore.

The ground beneath Ryan’s feet cracked.

Gaspar’s eyes widened as he suddenly found Ryan standing directly in front of him.

Then the punch struck.

The wind-blade impact slammed into the side of Gaspar’s plasma armor with a deafening explosion. The yellow layer held for a moment, resisting the strike.

Then the force overwhelmed it.

Gaspar was sent flying across the ground.

He crashed through tall grass and dirt before rolling to a stop several meters away.

Ryan did not wait to see whether he would stand again because he knew he would.

He turned toward the others.

"Get on the boat!" Ryan shouted. "Leave!"

Lucy snapped out of her shock first.

She rushed toward the shore, carrying Keith with her.

Tommy followed immediately, pushing the cart with Mei beside him.

"That one!" Tommy shouted, pointing toward the motorboat on the right. "The one on the right!"

Lucy reached the boat first.

She pulled the cover free and threw it aside before carefully lowering Keith into the boat. Keith groaned when his injured arm moved, but Lucy kept him steady and made sure he did not fall.

"Stay down," she told him.

Keith gave a weak nod.

Tommy and Mei reached the boat next.

Together, they lifted Emily from the cart as carefully as they could. Tommy climbed in first while Mei handed Emily to him, and he lowered her onto the floor of the boat beside Keith.

For the first time, Emily was out of the cart.

But the danger was far from over.

At the front of the shore, Rachel stood with both hands raised.

She had moved ahead to protect the others as they boarded.

At least two dozen armed men had gathered in front of them, firing through the darkness from the path and between the trees. Their gunshots came one after another, relentless and furious.

Rachel’s red barrier stood between them and the boat.

Bullets struck it in a constant rain of flashing impacts.

The barrier held.

But Rachel was beginning to weaken.

Her face had turned pale.

Her shoulders trembled.

The red glow around her hands flickered as she continued forcing the shield to remain in place.

She had been maintaining barriers for too long.

Ryan saw it.

He looked from Rachel to the boat, then back toward the darkness where Gaspar had been thrown.

They were close.

So close to escaping.

But they still had to get the boat moving.

"Rachel, fall back!" Ryan shouted. "Get on the boat!"

Rachel looked over her shoulder.

The motorboat was only a short distance behind her now. Lucy had Keith inside. Tommy and Mei had managed to get Emily aboard. The engine was not running yet, but they were close.

Too close to fail.

Rachel nodded.

She began backing toward the boat while keeping both hands raised.

The red barrier moved with her.

Bullets continued striking its surface in rapid flashes of crimson light, each impact making the shield tremble. Rachel’s arms shook as she struggled to keep it standing.

The armed men saw her retreating.

They started moving closer.

They understood that Rachel’s barrier was the only thing keeping them from the boat. If they pressed hard enough, fired long enough, eventually she would weaken.

"Ryan!" Rachel shouted. "Get in!"

Ryan turned toward the boat.

Then he felt it, his instincts screaming in danger.

He jumped backward just as a yellow plasma tentacle lashed toward him from the darkness.

It missed his head.

But he was not fast enough to avoid the rest of the strike.

The tentacle slammed into his chest.

The impact knocked the air from his lungs and threw him backward. Ryan staggered across the dirt, barely staying on his feet before he dropped to one knee.

Blood spilled from his mouth.

"Ryan!" Rachel screamed.