Chapter 265: Divide and Conquer

Mira Arvaith

The reactors still weren’t back online; the school was falling apart, and now our fellow students were the targets for murder.

I was torn between helping Jace fight off the attackers and staying to help the scientists. We didn’t know how many people had come to attack the academy, and Jace would most likely need backup. At the same time, the scientists needed all the help they could get.

My body tensed as I tried to calculate which course of action would create the best outcome.

A hand touched my shoulder; I looked up and saw one of the scientists smiling warmly at me.

I moved my shoulder away from the scientist's hand.

“We can take care of it from here, young lady. You have done more than enough. Go save your classmates; we will handle our end of the deal.”

Can I trust these people who gave up so easily? “You sure?”

“Yes, go on. If we can’t do this, we don’t deserve to be scientists. Now go.”

That’s true. Their lives are on the line, too. They’ll keep fighting to survive.

I looked back at Jace, already starting to float away, and then back at the scientist.

If I don’t go, Jace may only look out for his sister.

I nodded and ran after Jace.

“Oh wait, young lady, what is your name?”

“It's Mira, Mira Arvaith,” I yelled, turning my head over my shoulder as I sprinted across the catwalk.

I caught up to Jace within seconds, and we made our way back down the corridor to the hole we'd made in the ceiling earlier.

At this point, a heavy waterfall spouted down from the ceiling, creating a shallow pool at our feet that grew by the second.

“Hop on and hold your breath,” Jace said, expanding his cloud enough for me to get on.

I did as he asked, and he propelled us through the ceiling, fighting against the powerful current and torrential rain.

We were above ground in no time. Charcoal clouds engulfed the academy, and violent flashes of electricity were the only things illuminating the sky.

Floating above the ground, I saw a crowd of men wearing black combat gear fighting against two academy guards, who were barely holding their own.

“Jace, we need to split up. You hurry to the other isle, and I'll take care of things down here.” I said, imbuing my body with cosmic energy.

He nodded. I jumped off and commanded a pillar to rise from the academy surface to catch me, then used it as a platform to launch toward the fight ahead.

I flew through the rain, droplets smacking against my body as I drew back my fist, ready to let off some steam.

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My fist slammed into the intruder’s back like a meteor, caving it in and pulverizing his spine. His shrill scream rang out over the roar of thunder.

One down, five more to go.

The attack stunned the group, creating a momentary pause in the battle, enough for me to scan their cores and see they were empty husks, barely holding cosmic energy, devoid of a constellation.

Who are these guys?

While the intruders were still reeling from the shock, I sank their ankles into the ground, giving the academy guards and me the upper hand.

I threw a boulder at two of them, knocking them out, and kept heading toward the gymnasium, where another group of students was stationed for the rift exam.

Focusing most of my cosmic energy into my legs, I sprinted as hard as I could to get there.

My heart thundered like the storm around me, and the downpour began to agitate me. It was already dark, and the millions of raindrops bouncing off the ground messed with my footing and my seismic sense. Forcing me to shift my focus more than I'd like.

But I pushed through, because I would have wanted someone to do the same for me.

I made it to the walkway in front of the gymnasium, and three guards sat out front, slumped against the building's outer wall.

I rushed over to them, only to find all three bleeding out. One had been struck in the neck, another in the stomach, and the last in the chest.

I checked each of them for vital signs, hoping I was wrong.

None were breathing. None had a pulse.

They were among the first people to die in the attack.

Why is the school being attacked in the first place, and why are people who don’t seem connected to a constellation involved? Was this set in motion by a clan? Or maybe a guild. I’ll figure out after I save these students.

I closed the dead guards’ eyes and headed for the gymnasium. The moment I stepped through the sliding doors, something slammed into my shoulder blades and sent me flying backward. I flipped through the air before crashing onto the academy’s wet pavement.

I scrambled to my feet, pain blazing across my shoulder blades. Reaching back to assess the damage, I felt warm blood trickling from the wound.

I scanned my surroundings, but I didn’t see a single person. I focused more on my seismic sense; I could feel faint detection of potential combatants, but the pelting rain still drowned out the seismic activity.

Damn it, do these guys have cloaking tech? I needed to get into that gymnasium.

I layered myself in a thick layer of cosmic energy and dashed toward the entrance, preparing to bulldoze my way through.

This time, a couple of objects bounced off me as I made it through the door, destroying the glass and frames.

Inside, a large, bubbled dome of potent cosmic energy greeted me, forming a protective barrier for the students resting in their cluster tents.

Thank the pantheons; they are safe. I hope Jace is faring well over there.

A sigh escaped my lips, and I reached to tend to one of my injured shoulders, but before I could, several invisible impacts crashed into me, knocking me over and piercing my layer of cosmic energy.

The attack pierced my abdomen and left thigh.

What the heck was that? I should have sensed the movement.

Then something else pierced my right thigh and fell to the ground again.

I struggled to get to my feet, trying my best to force cosmic energy to close my wounds, but I was no vitalist, so the attempt yielded poor results.

A deafening barrage of objects slammed into the barrier, each impact unleashing a crackle of electricity that echoed through the gymnasium. The relentless assault continued until the barrier began to dissolve.

Move Mira, Move!

Then I felt several oval-shaped objects drop onto the gym floor; they had uniform grooves and square bumps on their exterior.

Don’t tell me those are…

I commanded my earth to form small domes around the objects. I had barely covered the last one; a massive shockwave tore through the gym, engulfing everything in dust and hurling me against the nearby wall.