9.2 - A Duel of Mages & Abnormals

Vanessa punched twice—once at me and once at Elaina—producing two orbs of red energy.

Elaina stepped forward and made a horizontal wave with her left arm. A glowing crescent of cyan light followed her movement, surging to meet Vanessa's Magic.

The orbs exploded when they crashed into the crescent, leaving behind clouds of red and blue.

Suddenly, a single clap reached our ears and there was a spark of something green down the catwalk.

I narrowed my vision as the clouds cleared away to reveal—

I raised my voice immediately. "Ela! Head's up!"

She gasped.

A single streak of green electricity zigzagged between us, just missing Elaina's head by a few centimeters.

"Damn," Mass Driver complained when the clouds dissipated, "I almost got the Mage."

Two broken handrail pieces floated inside a red and black aura in front of Mass Driver, who stood in front of Vanessa. Her arms were raised, bathed in the same aura, and she kept the two railing pieces levitating with a Spell.

Mass Driver grinned, clasped his hands together, and rubbed them. His fingers and palms flashed with a green current.

The stripes on his sleeves glowed with kinetic energy.

Elaina waved her arms, preparing a Spell, while I prepared to intercept and deflect Mass Driver's attack.

When he separated his arms, the air around Mass Driver crackled with shamrock-colored lightning, and he punched rapidly at the two handrail pieces. With every strike came a small railing bit—each one punched out at blinding speeds and imbued with the kinetic energy charged from Mass Driver's jacket.

Elaina formed a transparent, oval-shaped shield, but the speed of the accelerated bits applied too much force, causing it to crack instantly.

She dove behind me as the shield collapsed, and two streaks of green light grazed her left leg and shoulder.

"Nngh!" she winced.

"Ela!"

"I'm...all right!"

"Hmm," Mass Driver smiled. "So, it looks like my powers can beat out Magic, after all. Nice, real nice!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Vanessa chastised him. "We've still got Jacen to deal with."

"Yeah, yeah," Mass Driver waved her off. "He'll be easy."

My eyes focused on the fading stripes running along his jacket sleeves and pant legs.

"Don't tell me," I spoke up to him. "Mini railguns?"

"More or less," Mass Driver grinned. "It's all kinetic energy!"

Vanessa broke off two more railing pieces and raised them in front of Mass Driver.

I had to be quick.

"Ela, hold on to the railing!"

"Eh? For what?"

"Just hold on!"

I slammed my hands on the catwalk and moved them diagonally to the left. The metal walkway screeched and shook as it obeyed my will.

The two railing pieces floating in front of Mass Driver fell from the air, clanging onto the catwalk, as Vanessa lost her focus. Our enemies struggled to stay balanced.

Still under my influence, the catwalk bent itself sideways—forming a horizontal 90-degree angle between our two pairs.

Mass Driver caught himself on a railing and rubbed his hands together.

I shot Elaina a look. "Another shield! Stronger! Hurry!"

"O-On it!"

Her timing was perfect.

Just as Mass Driver sent another volley of blinding green bolts at us, Elaina conjured her second reflective shield.

This time, however, just as it began to crack from the extreme force of Mass Driver's projectiles, I reached out and placed my gloved hands on its mirrorlike surface.

Elaina gasped. "Jace, wait...!"

My arms vibrated as dozens upon dozens of projectiles sent assaulted the shield. In that moment, my focus turned from counting how many projectiles Mass Driver was punching at us, to the approximate angles of where they came from.

A random streak got me in the right shoulder, and I jolted from the pain. "Agh! Hnngh! Ow...!"

I glared at Mass Driver, then at Vanessa.

I placed my hands on the catwalk platform beneath us and imbued it with a trajectory. The platform screeched as it curved towards me and Elaina.

Five pieces of railing slammed into the curved platform—each one producing a high-pitched bang as metal smashed into metal.

Elaina kept her head down, and I saw her mouth moving.

"New Spell?" I thought aloud.

She nodded as she recited it silently.

From behind the mini holes in the curved platform, I noticed the glowing domes on Mass Driver's shoulders and at his waist and knees.

"Miniaturized reactors," I muttered. "I'll be damned."

I met Ela's eyes as she raised her head.

She nodded again. "I'll get you close to him. Ready?"

"I trust you. Let's go."

With one kick, I broke off the curved up metal platform and sent it flying directly at Vanessa and Mass Driver.

Elaina then chanted—

"Oh, Gentle Wind.
Infuse thy soul into my work, that I might reach my foe.
Without fear, without delay!
SOARING SPIRAL!"

A mighty gust of wind manifested around Elaina, becoming visible as the air itself took on a chartreuse glow—curving around her arms in two spiraling cones.

"Now, Jace! Jump!"

I did so.

Elaina used the glowing spiral along her left arm to carry me high above the catwalk at a great velocity, then down to our enemies in an arc of green and white.

For her second wind spiral, she launched it at a horizontal arc, attacking Vanessa, followed by another cyan crescent at Mass Driver.

Vanessa raised her arms to form an "X" and separated them as soon as the green and white spiral crashed against her. There was a flash of white light, and the wind spiral died. However, she was knocked back a few feet from its impact.

Mass Driver, on the other hand, ducked in time to stop himself from getting beheaded by the crescent of light, which disintegrated right after it soared above him.

He turned and I kicked him onto the catwalk as I descended through the air.

He grabbed at my leg and nearly shot off my right shin with a bolt of kinetic energy, but I shook off his hand just before he fired. I reached for his left shoulder, but Mass Driver—realizing my target was the reactor there—empowered himself with kinetic energy and zipped down the catwalk.

I landed on the cold metal platform.

"Too fast," I mumbled. "I've gotta be...faster!"

I pushed off the catwalk and charged after him, propelling myself with a wind trajectory. But as I flew down the catwalk, Vanessa suddenly appeared in a cloud of red and black.

I gasped. "Vaness—AAGH!"

She held out her arm, infused with a red aura, and knocked me over as soon as I was about to pass her.

She squatted down to look at me up close and placed her bare left hand next to my face.

I immediately thought about the masked girl and panicked; I shut my eyes.

"I don't wanna kill you, Jace," Vanessa spoke softly. "And I'm not gonna. But I can't forgive you for being all friendly with...her."

I opened my eyes and saw Vanessa staring down the catwalk as Elaina flew to us in a swirling storm of green and white visible air.

"Touch him, and you die in an instant," Elaina warned. Her pupils shined with the same chartreuse light.

"My, my," Vanessa grinned. "That's no way to treat a fellow Mage."

"You and I both know you're nothing like the rest of us!"

Vanessa grinned, and she eyeballed me before looking back to Elaina. "You're right, Anomaly, I'm not like you other damn Mages. I play..." Vanessa kicked off the platform next to me and charged at her. "...by a completely different set of rules!"

I watched as Vanessa waved her arms in two arcs, creating razor-sharp waves of red and black energy that soared to Elaina.

But Elaina raised her right arm, straightened her hand and fingers, and brought it down. Her arm cleaved through both arcs of energy, leaving a white and green wind trail following her hand.

Vanessa sneered at Elaina and stopped in her tracks, folding her arms as she stood between me and my friend.

"That all you got?" Elaina taunted her. "Acting like a fussy baby already?"

But Vanessa held out her folded bare arms and ran her fingers along her skin.

"Who's fussing?" Vanessa replied.

Suddenly, Elaina's confident expression morphed into horror, as Vanessa chanted—

"Blood for blood. Blood for one.
Dance, now! Dance to the sound of my wrath!
And I shall sake your thirst...for MORE!"

Vanessa ran her fingers along her arms, leaving behind tiny trails of blood that dripped down to the catwalk. She allowed her hands to drop, and the blood formed into sinister strings that curved and danced around her, obeying her will.

"No...way...!" Elaina's mouth quivered. "Your technique—That really is...!"

"Blood Magic," Vanessa revealed. "It's useful, quite useful. And it's also very...rewarding."

"B-But to use that kind of Forbidden Magic, you'd have to...make sacrifices...!"

Vanessa nodded. "Of course, duh. Haven't you guys wondered why there aren't any employees here at the docking bay?"

I shivered at the realization, and I saw Elaina did the same.

Neither of us said a word.

"Yes," Vanessa continued. "I tell you, they are now all my new friends: HERE with ME!"

She then weaved her hands forward and the blood strings swung together at Elaina, batting her to the side of the catwalk.

Elaina gasped as she lost her balance and tilted off the edge. "Ahh?! Aaaahh!"

"ELAAA!" I reached out in vain with my left hand.

Four layers of oval-shaped shields flashed below Elaina as she fell. Luckily, they absorbed her falling momentum just enough, and she rolled onto the docking bay floor, still alive.

Vanessa glanced back at me. Her own pupils now glowed a sinister dark crimson.

"I'm not one to add filthy Mages to my blood collection, but I will kill her. You boys have a nice chat up here, in the meantime. I'll see you in a little bit, Jace."

She then stepped onto the railing in front of her and leaped off the catwalk after Elaina.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Mass Driver walking down the catwalk.

"She's a weird one, that's for sure," he remarked. "All those damn Mages are weird. Why the Doc sees value in that Vilana bitch is beyond me."

I stood up and exhaled. "Spill it, Samuel. What's your play here at Atmo? You a fan of rockets or something?"

"Doctor's orders," Mass Driver jeered. "We were told to launch the rocket here in Pad 7. Doc said it'll go up, deactivate, drop back onto Eastern, then BOOM!"

"What?!"

"Yeah, Vector. You heard me right! It'll take out most of Eastern. That's the play."

"There's...no reason for you or Vanessa to do that, man..."

"Don't talk to me like we're friends or anything!" Mass Driver balled his fists. "I know about you, what you've done. You became pals with the Starlight Twins, you kidnapped Aster, and you got Larry jailed! On top of that, people are praisin' you now because you're an Abnormal who sticks up for Normals! You're just the worst of us all, Vector! The WORST!"

"Ambrigado's leading you to become a mass murderer. He's not a good guy, no matter what he told you!"

"The Doc's vision for the future is the best outcome for every Abnormal! I can't believe you, of all people, would be fighting against that vision! It's supposed to be for the good of us!"

I shook my head. "Taking out all of Eastern doesn't make a better future for Abnormals, Mass Driver. It makes you and the Science Division look like terrorists! You can't make a better future by just wiping out every Normal and Abnormal in a blast radius like that!"

Mass Driver scoffed at me and turned to look at the rocket standing on the launchpad further down the expansive docking bay. Smoke from its exhaust ports stirred as orange, red, and green lights pulsed along its shaft.

"Just think, Vector," he continued. "This'll make a brighter future...for all of us."

I slid my feet closer to him.

He kept staring at the rocket. "You should be on our side, Jacen. You should be helping us do this..."

I slid closer still.

He blinked. "Not trying to—...Ngh?!"

I pushed off the ground, guiding the wind trajectories around me to propel me forward.

Mass Driver panicked.

I grabbed at his chest.

The momentum pushed us both off the catwalk and down to the docking bay floor.

Flashes of cyan light and red energy flashed below as we descended—the Magical duel between Elaina and Vanessa raging in the distance.

I shook Mass Driver. "You guys are not murdering the people here in Eastern! We won't let you!"

"Damn all the people!" Mass Driver barked. "If none of 'em are gonna push for a better future for Abnormals, then WE WILL!"

Mass Driver shoved me off and clasped his hands together. The green kinetic energy built up in his right arm, and he fired a single electrical blast at me, pushing me further out.

I saw an oncoming pile of crates and boxes and raised my arms. I crashed into them and redirected the impact momentum towards a catwalk above us, destroying it. Its debris fell between me and Mass Driver, who landed about 20 yards away.

Just then, he spotted a pile of barrels stacked on a palette and rushed for it.

I saw what he was up to.

I pulled myself out of the crates and boxes, and I readied myself for his first volley.

He disappeared behind the first stack of barrels and immediately punched one at me.

The wide distance between us gave me barely enough time to anticipate its velocity. I punched at the barrel just as it reached my face, and it exploded into the far wall to my left.

Mass Driver moved from barrel to barrel, punching them all at me—each one imbued with his green kinetic energy.

I kept pace with him, eyeing every barrel as they were launched—redirecting the next one, then the next one, and the next, and the next one still.

But with every successful redirection, my arms swelled more and more with pain.

The area around us, the catwalks above, and the colossal walls behind Mass Driver all exploded in a sea of smoke and debris as redirected barrels smashed into them. Every redirection led to another burst somewhere, an explosion here and there, and some barrels even collided into others on their way to me.

In no way could I find the precise trajectory to redirect barrels back at Mass Driver. His kinetic punches was too fast for me to react in time.

All I could do was dodge and deflect.

But like every projectile-based weapon, there was always an end to the ammunition. That was the only thought in my mind as my arms stung with every trajectory-imbued punch or swipe.

When Mass Driver punched out at the last barrel, I caught sight of Vanessa in the artificial fog, and I was able to punch it towards her.

Mass Driver gasped as the barrel shot from my left fist at his ally.

"BLOODLETTER!" he yelled.

Vanessa paused her next attack on Elaina and turned—her eyes widened in shock—in time to see the barrel just before it exploded in her face.

A large cloud of gray and red smoke erupted from where it hit her.

No way she survived that.

I figured the red in the smoke had to be...

I saw Mass Driver fall to his knees. He was clutching his right arm, and I saw the flickering stripe on his sleeve—

Wait.

Did this mean...his kinetic energy was...malfunctioning?

Despite the pain in my arms, I seized the opportunity and slammed my hands on the ground, sending two trajectories at Mass Driver.

He flung into the air as the currents I sent into the metal floor reached him. Two spikes of metal pipes and thick wires jolted up from the docking bay surface and pierced at his legs.

The two glowing stripes on Mass Driver pant legs flashed green, then faded out as they were disabled.

Mass Driver collapsed to the ground, clutching at his legs and bellowing in agony. Likely a broken bone or two from the metal spikes.

I ran at him, only to stop as the smoke suddenly cleared from where Vanessa had stood.

Strings of dark blood joined together and swatted away at the clouds of red and gray.

Vanessa stood amidst the dissipating smoke, glaring at me. And from the distance between us, I could see her irises glowing a terrifying red, and part of her right face was burned.

The sight of her eyes sent a chill down my spine, and I suddenly froze in place.

It felt like a night terror ran up my spine, preventing me from moving my limbs. I felt a stinging pain behind my eyes as Vanessa kept staring at me.

Elaina weaved her arms to form another Spell, but Vanessa, without looking, raised her left arm and commanded the blood strings to knock her off her feet.

The blood strings curved out of Vanessa's fingers and twisted around Elaina, restraining her wrists and ankles. Several more blood strings roped themselves around her body, and they squeezed themselves around her neck.

Elaina gasped and coughed for air, as Vanessa maintained her disturbing stare at me.

"I know you don't really believe in Magic, Vector," she smirked. "But I'll turn you into a believer right now."

She walked up to Elaina, who kept on fighting the blood strings.

Vanessa chuckled. "I can't say you fought well, Mage of the Blue Crescent, but your life ends here."

No, I thought. No, no, no!

A red and black aura engulfed Vanessa's hands, forming a single lance of unknown material. "With your death, the Normals of Ave Strata will be mine to sacrifice to the great Val' Iremn. No one will be strong enough to oppose me."

She glanced back to me, and I saw her eyes were glowing an even sinister red hue now, as it engulfed her sclerae.

"Ritual first, then, you and I can talk," Vanessa told me, and she turned to Elaina.

Vanessa stomped her feet together and breathed deeply.

At once, the air in the docking bay suddenly felt dry.

"Oh, great Val' Iremn!"

Vanessa raised her hands and stared at the high ceiling as she chanted.

"I offer you yet another sacrifice! One that I pray will be most pleasing to you!"

Elaina struggled with all her might to break free from the blood strings, but they only tightened around her even more.

I tried to get to my feet, but whatever Vanessa did to me with that crazy stare of hers kept me from moving. I fought myself, willing my body to get up.

But I could not.

"Let this sacrifice be a reckoning for all who devote themselves to Isah and Anya!
Let this death mark another failure of the treacherous Crescent Moon clan!"

Vanessa lowered her head and stared at Elaina.

"And may you, oh Iremn, use this one's soul to empower your eventual return!
In this sacrament of blood, I offer you more POWER!"

I reached out to her in vain, just as Vanessa brought her right arm down to drive the blood lance into Elaina's head.

I couldn't reach her in time.

I knew I couldn't reach her in time.

There was no way—no way that I could get there myself.

If only...

If only I could...

Move at...the speed of—

I felt the warmth of the ceiling lights, and it made me remember...the warmth of being with my friends, the warmth of seeing Sami at the Old Canal diner, and, of course, the warmth of being with Elaina.

I didn't care that I was wide open to an attack by Mass Driver. Frankly, I didn't even know if he was up or not.

What I wanted—the only thing I wanted in that moment—was to save Elaina.

I wouldn't allow her to be a sacrifice for Vanessa and whatever crude form of Magic she called upon. No one deserved such a brutal fate. And I wouldn't let that Blood Mage have her way.

My eyes were glued onto Elaina and the blood strings binding her in place, when—

Something allowed me to pull back my right arm and, without thinking, I shot it forward, reaching, with all my might, at Elaina.

Something red glowed next to my arm.

Then it grew brighter, brighter, and brighter still, until—

Three arrows of solid red light zipped through the air in a straight trajectory towards Elaina.