Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 78: Chance Meetings

"I need you to drop your mana defenses for a moment!" I yelled, directing the message over to the Denoir heir with a pulse of sound mana. A large boulder of earth nearly squashed me, but a dozen quick, roaring strikes with telekinesis as it neared shattered it with the sound of cracking thunder. I caught one of the basketball-sized chunks of stone as it crashed down, weaving around the falling debris. My hands sunk into the rock with a crunch as I clenched my hand.

Then I threw the stone with a burst of telekinesis. It exploded into an uncountable number of deadly shards, peppering the undead in front of me like a dozen shotgun shells layered on top of one another.

I blinked, taken aback by the effectiveness of that attack. That gives me a really good idea, I thought.

"No, I won't do that," Sevren said in response. I was about to protest, but the Denoir heir simply threw his dagger toward the building Darrin was perched on.

It flew true, lodging into the wall. The thin, metallic-looking wire went taught as Sevren pulled. I saw his body turn a strange, lightish hue, then he yanked his arm downward.

Instead of dislodging the dagger as I would've expected, Sevren shot up toward the sky, trailing his line. He moved abnormally fast, reaching fifty feet in record time.

The light tinge around his body faded, and the Denoir ascender's momentum bled off with unnatural speed. The hue was replaced with a darker one. The striker halted almost immediately in his ascent, dropping to the rooftops like a stone.

Okay, then, I thought, a little peeved. We can play it your way.

I used a powerful burst of telekinesis and fire below my feet, the explosion launching me straight up. I sent out a gout of fire as I rose, burning away a few projectiles that made it too close.

I lashed out at the rooftop with a telekinetic pull, making me lurch to the side. I landed with a skid, breathing roughly. I immediately restarted my sound barrier, letting it cover us all.

"We need to run!" I said, pointing toward the skyscraper the Unblooded were camping in. "If we get there, we'll be in the clear!"

"Think you can watch our backs?" Darrin said to Sevren, keeping his eyes forward.

"You won't be ambushed from behind," Sevren affirmed. His dagger was clutched in a white-knuckled grip, his wire held tautly between his hands.

He'd better damn well hope so.

—

I crashed through a tenth-floor window, glass shattering into tiny slivers around me. I rolled, then came to my feet in one smooth, instinctual motion. I was followed shortly by the lurching form of Darrin, outlined in white with his hair matted to his forehead. He had a few cuts along his arms, the result of our pitched battle. Once I set him down on the ground, he slumped against a nearby wall.

Sevren was the last to arrive. He shot straight in like an arrow, a faint whitish tinge to his body. Then the hue shifted and he cracked against the floor, his momentum evaporating. He looked unharmed.

I wiped a layer of sweat from my brow. "That was horrid," I said. "You've been doing this... how often?" I asked Darrin.

"They usually never get that strong," Darrin said, heaving for breath. "Most ascenders died or were overwhelmed before I could get to them." He looked at Sevren. "Nice to meet you, by the way," Darrin said with a laugh.

"You've met him before," I said dismissively, already trudging to the elevator. I pressed the up button, watching the little display at the top of the door slowly change. "He was at the Shimmerken's Hoard after my prelim."