Chapter 2006: Fighting Back

The view through Ayame’s eyes opened before him. He watched her katana drive Veshara toward Black Fang, saw Lilith cut off the captain’s retreat, and raised his palm beneath them.

Quinlan drew wind up through the holes he’d made in the inn, compressing it beneath the surviving floor. Through Ayame’s sight, he watched Veshara turn Serika’s fist aside with her palm while Black Fang’s blade made her lean away from it.

Her tail planted to support her.

He drove his hand upward.

*KRA-BOOOOM!*

The floor erupted beneath Veshara. A narrow column of compressed wind struck her at the perfect spot from below, tore her tail out of its support, and slammed her through the ceiling before she could uncurl it.

"Wh-?!"

Roof beams shattered against her back. She burst into daylight through a spray of tiles, shooting upward above the inn while the thunder of Quinlan’s spell rolled across Sarthal.

For a moment, the sheer violence of the launch took her breath away.

Then her tongue found the blood on her split lip.

"Oh..."

Her golden eyes shone as she looked down. The inn was shrinking beneath her, its ruined roof spilling dust into the streets. She was still rising, auburn hair streaming past her horns while the wind roared around her armour.

"Ahahahaha!"

The laugh tore out of her, wild with delight. That bastard had waited until her hands and tail were occupied, then hit her through the floor without having vision?!

"What a frightening little monster!"

She loved it.

A kilometre above Sarthal, her ascent finally slowed. The harbour spread beyond the roofs beneath her, ships reduced to bright flecks on the water as she reached the top of her flight.

Movement on the inn drew her eyes back.

Quinlan leapt up through the broken floors, through the opening she’d left in the roof. His boots struck the surviving ridge as his women bounded up through the wreckage around him.

Ayame came to his right, Black Fang to his left. Behind them, Blossom flexed the arm Sera had just mended, wiped blood from her mouth with her other wrist, and bared her teeth at the distant copper figure.

Quinlan spread his left hand.

"[Mass Flight]."

Mana poured out of him, the cost climbing as he gathered more of his companions into the spell. Wind lifted their coats and hair while he took the weight of the entire company, pouring power into the currents until they could bear everyone clear of the roof.

Quinlan stepped beyond the roof’s edge.

"I don’t know what drove you to do this, but..."

His boot met empty air and held.

"I’ll gladly behead a suicidal lunatic."

With the next step, Quinlan began to climb, the wind raising him as though a stairway stretched from the ruined inn into the sky. He drew [Soul Reaper], the pitch-black saber catching a crimson reflection from his visor.

Black Fang kept pace on his left. Ayame ascended on his right, her katana resting against her shoulder while she looked up at Veshara with a smile that promised a thoroughly unpleasant reunion.

Behind them came the rest of his company, rising on the currents he held beneath their feet. Scar carried a dagger in her good hand, her broken arm tucked against her body. Even she was coming.

Veshara stared.

He was carrying all of them. She could see the strain of the spell in the wind churning around their formation, yet the armoured man kept walking toward her with his saber drawn, his women spreading out on either side of him.

"You..."

Her breath caught in delighted disbelief.

Serika pushed ahead first, her fists burning as Quinlan’s wind carried her into the open sky. Lilith followed from the other side, and the bloodied dogkin came after them with lightning climbing her claws.

They were hunting her.

The realization filled Veshara with fierce, giddy pleasure.

To these vicious little women, she was an enormous prize they meant to bring down together. They’d felt how hard she could hit, seen how fast she could move, and now they were coming up into the fucking sky after her.

Black Fang was smiling again.

Veshara wanted badly to find out how long she could keep that smile on the woman’s face.

"Come, then!"

Gravity began pulling her back to the city. She spread her arms and legs, letting the air catch her body before a sweep of her tail rolled her through a turn.

Her eyes found Quinlan between the approaching women.

With her arms tucked close and her tail straight behind her, Veshara plunged toward him. Wind screamed past her horns as she accelerated, the black helmet growing beneath her while she drew one fist back to strike.

"[Gust]."

Quinlan’s crosswind hit her above the hip and threw her off course.

"Hah!"

Veshara flung her tail the other way to stop the roll, spreading an arm to catch the current. The correction brought Quinlan back into her path, and she tucked herself into the dive again.

"[Cyclone]."

Air coiled around her legs. Her tail was dragged sideways before she could pull it free, twisting her lower body until she was falling shoulder first with the sky revolving around her.

She snarled, kicked her legs apart, and swept her tail through the spiral. The violent motion broke her tumble, but by the time she faced downward again, she’d lost the line to Quinlan.

Serika was coming up beneath her instead.

Veshara turned her shoulder into the burning fist, taking the glancing blow across her scales while she banked away. The strike spun her toward Lilith’s sword, forcing her to knock it aside with her bracer before she could look for the masked bastard again.

"[Air Slash]."

The pressure caught her across the chest. Veshara crossed her forearms in front of it, copper scales grinding beneath the cutting wind as the impact drove her farther from her chosen path.

"What an annoying arsenal!"

She was laughing as she said it, though her muscles were straining now. Every time she corrected her descent, he hit her from another direction, and his women came at her through the opening it created.

She couldn’t even fall where she fucking wanted to.

Veshara kicked against the next gust, using its pressure to turn herself toward Quinlan. Her tail curled to tighten the turn, and she spread her fingers, reaching for the man controlling the air around her.

"There you are!"

His red eyes flared through the helmet.

"[Ice Lance Barrage]."

Ice formed around his outstretched hand, spearheads lengthening into glittering shafts. More appeared above his shoulders, then beyond the women flanking him, spreading into ranks that filled Veshara’s view of the sky below.

A thousand frozen points turned toward her.

Veshara’s grin became utterly manic. He’d spent all that mana bringing his people after her, kept spoiling her dive while they attacked, and still had enough left to greet her with this.

"Yes!"

She drew her legs beneath herself, preparing to smash through the first rank.

An awful premonition caught her halfway through the movement.

Veshara’s next laugh died in her throat. She was still falling toward the ice, still eager to feel it break against her body, but dread was pushing into that excitement with a force she couldn’t ignore.

*DUM.*

Her heartbeat struck hard beneath her breastplate. The tail she’d curled to guide her dive went rigid, spoiling her aim as a terrible pressure closed around her.

Veshara tried to keep her attention on Quinlan. His weapons were right there, his women closing on either side, yet her instincts demanded that she abandon the attack. Every moment she continued made that pressure heavier.

She recognized the will bearing down on her, and the last of her wild grin faltered.

Queen Zorvanna’s killing intent had reached her through the open sky.

"...Oh, fuck."