Two seconds.
That's all Steve had before the rapidly intensifying vortex bore down upon them. Although he had benefited from her poor focus and skill application, he hadn't gained much. He was left with a choice: evacuate people from the impending danger or eliminate the woman responsible for it.
Steve knew he could get Rein and Larkin to safety, assuming the blast zone remained stationary. But doing so meant abandoning Aaron Levingston—the man who had saved his life. If he chose to attack Abigail instead, he could halt the onslaught, but at the risk of losing Rein if his Qi ran out!
The injustice of it all gnawed at him—having to decide between the lives of his best friend, lover, and savior felt entirely wrong. As Rein, Larkin, and Aaron lay in the truck bed, drenched in blood and drowned out by the cacophony of the wind, Steve desperately sought a solution to save them all.
He needed a gamble to save everyone! Think… think… THINK!
"Kaze's princess did better than that as a beginner!"
What? Steve was so deep in thought that he couldn't tell whether he had heard or thought the statement. Kiera Snow also used the technique—that's right! That was his gamble!
The statement came out of nowhere, snapping Steve back to attention. Kiera Snow had also used the technique—that was it! His gamble would be to use Kiera's image to break the Immortals free of their trauma, allowing them to defeat Abigail and save the others. But would that risk Rein's life even more? Should he guarantee it?
WhooOOoooOoOH!
An arrow whistled past Steve, yanking him back to reality. He followed its trajectory and saw a scorched, hairless figure desperately evading it. But ultimately, it was to no avail—
"GAugGH!" Abigail coughed, blood spewing from her mouth as the arrow pierced her chest. A moment later, the turbulent air above Steve's group became chaotic, rocking the truck bed and flinging them around.
CRAaasSHhhahasSH!
The Immortals screamed, glass shards slicing their skin. Eyes closed, they halted, uncertain.
Steve threw his body over Rein's, shielded by the truck bed's walls. A moment later, the wind stopped, leaving only the sound of groans and car alarms, "Is it done?" he asked himself, slowing his racing heart.
"I'll kill you all!" A hoarse female voice pierced through the air, filling Steve with dread. Abigail was still alive, and he didn't even know if Rein was still breathing.
CRAaaASSH! Beep! Beep! Beep-beep-Beep!
Steve held his breath as he heard a body crash into a car, triggering the alarm. Thu-dump! Peering over the edge, his heart pulsed, tense and confused.
"Hah, did you think we'd be easy to kill!?" A vicious woman staggered towards her enemy. "Your people are weak," she snarled, gripping another woman.
Thu-dump! Thud-dump!
"SANDRA!" Steve bellowed, air heaving from his lungs, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
The battle-weary brunette, her ponytail frazzled and tactical wear soaked in blood and torn, looked at him in confusion. In her grasp was Abigail's charred, twitching body. "What?"
"Look down!" he shouted. "Right side!"
Sandra glanced down and chuckled, her gaze fixed on a metal bar impaling her stomach just below the ribcage. "So?"
CRUuuuNCH!
With a savage determination, Sandra used Abigail's throat to smash her head into a truck's tailgate, breaking it off. She then dragged her to a nearby sedan, grinding her face through the wall until her head was lodged in the trunk.
As Abigail's lifeless body hung limp, Sandra lifted her leg above the woman's lower spine. "Too bad I need my Qi," Sandra sneered, "otherwise, you wouldn't be getting such a ceremonious death. You're not even worth that much, 'ant.'"
CRAacCK!
"Hurry up and save your girl," the brunette ordered, ensuring the woman was dead. "I'll save the others. There's plenty of Immortals that can heal me."
"Thank you!" Steve nodded and quickly grabbed Rein and check her breathing. As he listened to her heart, eyes closed, Sandra walked up. When she saw inside the cab, her eyes widened in horror.
═─┈─═
"TURN LEFT!" Evalyn barked, her rage driving her as she chased the three fleeing cultivators through Meridian City's streets. "DIE THAT WAY!"
"We're not listening to a word you say, mortal!" a black-haired man snapped. "I wouldn't listen to anyone, least of all an ambushing coward!"
The other two scoffed in disdain, darting between buildings as they evaded the ice blades pursuing them like homing missiles.
"Stay silent, Baltman," a blonde-haired man with braided hair commanded, his face and clothing unblemished by blood.
"Kyle's right," a brunette said coldly, equally pristine. "She used an ambush and multiple traps to take out the major—simply talking to a savage like this could harm—AH!"
WhooOOoOooSH!
While she complained, a wall of ice blades nearly impaled her. "That bitch!" she yelled, dodging and veering left down a side street to avoid more projectiles.
"She's trying to keep you two from the ocean, Wanda!" Baltman warned from above, keeping an eye on the action.
Entering a tourist area filled with gift shops and eateries, Evalyn leaped from building to building, cursing her inability to fly.
It was nailbiting for Baltman to watch, seeing her get murderously close to Kyle. He only felt relief when they neared the ocean, as 40-foot residential buildings separated the district from the waterfront. She'd have to go around, buying Kyle some to escape.
Anxiety overwhelmed him when Evalyn veered off course, jumping from her 20-foot building across the street to the residential complexes.
CRuNCH!
Baltman's anxiety gave way to horror when a floating ice platform materialized mid-air, giving her the traction to jump the remaining fifteen feet and land on the rooftop.
It was a trump card she saved for the very end. Thu-dump!
"She's above you, Kyle!" Baltman screamed, his voice thundering through the broken city streets, booming with raw emotion. But the blonde-haired cultivator couldn't hear him as Evalyn descended from above, her gaze locked on him like prey.
Kyle glimpsed the ocean as he turned the corner. His heart pounded, knowing that once he reached the water, the tenacious blonde would be unable to follow. Only thirty more steps—
CrreeeeaaakKKkKKkkKkK!
His eyes widened in terror as an ice wall materialized before him. "What the—!"
CRaaaACK!
Kyle slammed into the merciless ice wall, disoriented and confused. "Where is—" he started, but his words were cut short as a white sword impaled him from between his shoulder blades to his lower abdomen, "GAugGH!"
Hot blood shot out but froze before touching the ground. It was a visual representation of his insides, quickly solidifying against his soul Qi's counterattack.
"Who are you…?" Kyle managed to utter as his body numbed, but he soon realized he was speaking to himself. "Heh. That's it?" he chuckled, freezing over.
Evalyn, on the other hand, spared no thought for last words. Her focus was entirely on the woman soaring over the water toward her people. "GO THE OTHER WAY!"
"FUCK OFF!" Wanda retorted, her anger boiling over. She had to warn Vincent Ramble and the others about the mortal wielding a divine breathing technique.
"Then fly further out until you leave this city!" General Skye yelled. "Leave our territory!"
"Hoh?" Wanda's eyes gleamed with madness. "Are your people this way? They must be weak if you're so desperate!" Fueled by fury and vengeance for her fallen comrades, Wanda's priorities shifted. She no longer cared about the operation; she craved retribution. "If that's the case, I'll pay them a visit first!"
Evalyn's heart raced as she realized the danger her people were in. Desperation fueled her as she leaped into the air, conjuring ice platforms beneath her feet to run through the sky. It was a gamble, as she had no experience in doing so. However, her determination and Wanda's fury clashed in a high-stakes race against time, where hesitation could spell tragedy for her people.
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