Stormblade 4 C20: Burning (1)

20 - Burning (1)

The moment I stepped out of the Fallen Delvers portal and sprinted up the stairs, my heart plummeted.

Just like in my visions, Phoenix burned around me. The GC building was cratered and cracked; a massive gouge had been torn up the front of it all the way from the ground floor to a spot thirty stories up, and a whole section of the building was just…gone. All that was left were I-Beams and wreckage. Glass littered the square around me. It stank of smoke, fire, and something both clean and filthy at the same time. And there were monsters everywhere.

Surrounding the memorial. Flooding the street. Assaulting the GC tower. My friends—some of them, at least—were there, fighting for their lives. Dozens of monsters stood between them and me. Maybe more.

I knew what I had to do. I checked my resources, then let the battle trance consume me.

Stamina: 205/470, Mana: 305/600

Nimbus Edge crackled to life in my hand, the cloud-and-lightning blade humming, and I threw myself toward the closest monster between the tower and me.

Silksteel Centurion: A-Rank Monster

It was tall—almost four feet more than me—and it carried a spear and tower shield. Its armor was thick, and it reacted instantly, brass body whipping around to swing its bladed spear in an arc. I didn’t care. The battle trance was on me, and until I got to the door and found Jeff, Yasmin, and Sophia, it wouldn’t leave.

My aura burst out, not as the knight, but as the damage increase. I lunged. Nimbus Edge found a crack, and lightning poured into the construct’s body. A second strike followed. Then a third. I wasn’t bothering with defense. Instead, I became the aggressor. The Centurion’s shield came down, blocking my path forward. I used both of my Lightning Charges for Thunderblade and kept attacking, punching through the shield, then through the monster’s plate armor, and then through its silk core.

When I finished, three more monsters were almost on me. Two pulled up. Silkstormers—the A-Rank ranged enemies with the silk-and-razor whips. Now I shifted stances to Mistwalk. Strands of burning silk and droplets of melted brass fell from my sword’s blade as I used Storm Dance and appeared in the middle of the two constructs—and behind the second Centurion protecting them. Back to Thunderbolt after one quick block to keep a whip away from my eyes.

Cutting Storm. Lightning and wind lashed out at my three enemies. I didn’t bother looking at the results; instead, I pressed the Silkstormer between the GC building and me. Three stabs to its chest, and it died.

Next were a handful of B-Rank monsters. Their armor shredded as I threw a pair of Brendan’s Stormfire Lances into them—followed immediately by a Windwalk to close the gap. I danced between stances, redirecting blows as they rained down on me. More and more monsters rushed me. B-Ranks. A-Ranks. A dozen or more Cs. Charred, half-melted brass and the stench of burned silk filled the courtyard behind me as I carved a path toward the GC building.

And then I saw them.

Jeff was in front. His shield looked less like a bulwark and more like a tattered sheet of notebook paper after a child’s scissors had worked it over. His armor was dented, and his helmet was cut clean through. One of his eyes was covered in blood as he glared at the monsters swarming him. But he wasn’t done. Split-Second Shield flared to life, a wall of transparent blue hexes blocking the doorway to the GC building for a few brief seconds.

Then it faded, and the monsters crashed in on him again.

Yasmin had an axe—just like my vision. She stood behind Jeff, cuts covering her body. And, just as importantly, she stood between the monsters and Sophia. She was panicking. Not catatonic or in a fugue, but panicking. That was a good sign. It meant she hadn’t had a full-on breakdown yet. But she was close.

I used my new aura’s second mode.

The Stormkin Avatar erupted from my body, an impossibly fast, armored hulk with a sword and round shield. He could have been a tank, but no—Dad had been a fighter, even when he’d chosen the shield. His blade carved into the monsters attacking Jeff as his shield struck like a hammer-blow, and I followed, finishing off whatever he couldn’t even as the cost of keeping the Avatar up skyrocketed.

I loved every second of it.

Not the danger my friends, family, and city were in. Not the death around me. Not any of that. But getting to fight side by side with my dad for the first time in my life. Even if it was only a figment of him, it was the closest I’d ever get. Swords danced through brass and silk, and monsters fell around us like wheat.

And then, suddenly, it was over.

◄▼►

It was…not quiet.

But for the first time since I’d left the Fallen Delvers Memorial, the fury and battle trance left. The Stormkin Avatar faded as I let it go to conserve my Mana, and I lowered Nimbus Edge to my side. There was only one thing between the GC building’s door and me.

“Kade?” Jeff coughed blood as he pulled his helmet off. The pink mist hung in the air around his mouth for a moment. “Did you win?”

“I did,” I said simply. “You guys?”

“We didn’t,” Yasmin said quietly. “We lost Raul on the retreat. He got swarmed under. The last time we saw Ellen was at the 303 Wall. She was on a chunk of rubble. If her Mana holds out, she might be okay. If there aren’t any flying monsters. If an S-Rank juggernaut doesn’t take an interest in her. If.”

“She’s still alive,” I said. Raul was dead. Jeff couldn’t be taking that well, but I had a mission. We’d mourn him later. “She’s got to be.”

“You’re sure?” Jeff asked. Sophia walked up, shaking, and put a hand on his back. His wounds started to heal, slowly and haltingly.

“I am. The last time I saw her, she was still fighting. And the Paragon in the portal told me she’d make it. They gave me something for you, Jeff.” My hand plunged into my pocket, and I pulled out the icy, void core. It burned my fingers from the sheer cold it put off.

When I dropped it into Jeff’s hands, though, he didn’t react. Ice didn’t form. Nothing happened. He stared at it for a moment, eyes unfocused. Then he nodded. “I understand.”

“Good. Use it when you can. It’s important.”

“Got it.” Jeff reached for his sword, which he’d set on the cracked concrete. He groaned as he picked it up. “The whole city’s crawling with monsters. You got a plan?”

I thought for a moment. Then I nodded. “Do you know if they got in anywhere else?”

“No. They hit north and south, but they got stopped pretty quickly. It was only that big, S-Rank monster cracking the Wall that did it in Mesa.” Jeff shrugged. “That could have changed, but I doubt it.”

“I’m pushing back toward Mesa and finding Ellen. Can the three of you keep going?”

Jeff looked at Yasmin, who nodded slowly. “Yes. Hell, yes. We’re not done yet.”

Then we all turned to Sophia. She’d slumped down against the GC building’s wall. Tears welled in her eyes, and she was breathing fast. Too fast. I reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched. I didn’t need to see Jeff and Yasmin’s faces to know they’d seen the same thing I was looking at—Sophia was done.

And I couldn’t blame her. She was, what? B-Rank? None of the team were built for this, and they’d been fighting three delvers down for hours. It was a miracle they’d made it from the Wall all the way here. But it was a problem. Jeff needed a healer to compete against the monsters littering the city, and Sophia couldn’t be that healer. If Jeff couldn’t protect her, Yasmin was vulnerable. They weren’t a whole team, and all three of them were so far beyond their limits I hadn’t even recognized it.

I took a deep breath. “Okay. Sophia’s out. We can’t leave her here by herself. The GC building needs protectors, and the A and S-Rankers aren’t here to do it. Find a good choke point, either here or inside, and do your best. Or, even better, regroup with the low-rank teams here, evacuate who you can, and try to get to the Desert Wind HQ. Take care of my sister, because I can’t right now.”

Jeff nodded. His eyes locked with mine, and he stuck out a hand. I shook it, and he held the grip. “I promise I’ll make sure she’s okay, Kade. Come on, let’s go.”

“What are you going to do, Kade?” Yasmin asked as they started heading for the street to the northwest.

I didn’t look back. The sun was slowly starting to rise in the east, accompanied by flashes of bright white-orange light as Angelo Lawrence made his namesake real. A flaming red bird the size of an airplane hovered over the wall, vomiting flames down into the monsters there. And, somewhere in the distance, miles and miles away, the sound of an anvil being pounded by a hammer filled the air.

The S-Rankers were out there. So, I knew, was Ellen. I needed to find her—and then? Lightning surged through my veins, and thunder pounded in my ears. The battle trance wanted to take over again.

“I’m going to end this,” I said. And then I let it.

◄▼►

Cyclone Forms. Rolling Thunder on Polarity Shift. Brendan’s Stormfire Lance, copying Polarity Shift. A second Lance. Thunder Crash.

The fight lasted less than five seconds. The hulking A-Rank automaton, all grinding brass gears and whirling strands of razor-sharp silk, was nothing but slag on the melting asphalt.

Thunderbolt Forms. Cutting Storm. A half-dozen B-Rank constructs ground to a halt as wind and lightning ripped into them. Oil oozed from the cuts onto the street, then burst into flames around me. I kept moving, leaving the burning tar and oil behind. Mesa could burn. It was already burning. That didn’t matter; all that did was getting to the 303 Wall, finding Ellen, and patching the gap.

The black, cloud-and-lightning core thumped in my pocket. Steam hung in the air like fog, cutting my vision down to nothing. I was navigating by flashes of orange-white light and the heart-shaking sound of a hammer on an anvil—on Bernard the Wall and Angelo Lawrence. The closer I got to them, the closer I’d get to the worst of the fighting. The closer I’d get to the Wall.

I turned a corner. Through the steam, something moved.

Silkshaman: A-Rank Monster

It was hunched, its back bent at an angle well beyond ninety degrees. Most of its body was coiled, woven silk; only a plate over its head and a crooked shepherd’s staff were in brass. Two Centurions—also A-Rank—pushed in front of it. And, crawling on the asphalt and bleeding from a spear wound to her spine, was a delver.

I didn’t waste time. As I charged, Script-empowered body burning from hours of pushing it to the limit, I shifted to Cyclone stance. The Silkshaman was a caster. I couldn’t let it use its magic. Cloudburst landed on it a moment later.

The Silkshaman’s staff rose, and it started trying to cast. I smiled ferally as Nimbus Edge lashed out to deflect a spear that would have pinned the delver to the melting asphalt. “Not this time,” I said through gritted teeth.

Then I stepped over her and activated my aura—and the Stormkin Avatar stepped out of me, sword already raised and coming down on the Silkshaman’s staff.

◄▼►

Angelo Lawrence was in full meltdown.

There was a point at which his Demon Core, Power Plant, and Supercritical skills started feeding each other faster than he could empty his Mana. Where the energy his skills created became overwhelming, and Power Plant didn’t shut down after a Fusion strike. He’d been there before.

Twice.

The first time had been a few months after he’d arrived at S-Rank. An A-Rank portal had opened on the highway leading north from Phoenix, and his team had been sent to clear it. He’d pushed himself too far, and his team had paid for it in weeks out of commission. He was lucky that was the worst that had happened. It was after that incident that the Light of Dawn had implemented the choices of determination and responsibility.

He’d already made his choice of determination. But the choice of responsibility was one he made every day. The responsibility of bearing power without giving in to the temptation to use it. It was what separated the S-Rankers from the As. They had the power, and therefore, had to be responsible in how they used it.

The second time was in the depths of the Carlsbad Caverns. The Hall of Giants and the Iceberg were nothing but melted slag now. He’d gone beyond his limits and redlined his personal reactor. And it hadn’t been enough.

It wasn’t enough here, either.

He slumped against what was left of the 303 Wall’s crenellations, staring out at the wasteland he’d made of the Sonoran Desert with eyes that felt hollow. He didn’t see any of it, of course. His eyes were scorched from the repeated thermonuclear explosions he’d dropped far too close to the city for comfort.

The healers could fix it later. His eyes—and the damage his failure of responsibility was doing to Phoenix. Right now, only one thing mattered, and that was slowing the tide of brass-and-silk monsters pouring into the city so that the delvers he knew were still fighting inside could hold the line.

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