Chapter 94: Unlikely Allies
The Greater Healing Potion's power was a supernova in my veins. The fatigue, the aches, the spiritual hollowness, all of it was scoured away, replaced by a thrumming, razor-sharp readiness. The world snapped into hyper-focus. I could see the individual splatters of blood on Jax's chest, the subtle shift of Lyssa's weight as she prepared her next spell, the grIm determination on Evander's face.
There was no time for discussion. No grand strategy. The battle was a storm, and we were caught in its eye.
Evander understood it first. His gaze met mine over the carnage, a flicker of grim acknowledgment passing between us. The patron and the adventurer. The tool-user and the Ki-wielder. An alliance born of pure, desperate necessity.
"The brute is yours!" Evander barked, his voice cutting through the din. "My men will occupy the weaver! Do not let that monster touch me!"
He didn't wait for my reply. His staff, the polished dark wood now glowing with a fierce, steady blue light, swung towards Lyssa. A pulse of visible force, not aimed at her, but at the ground in front of his remaining four legionnaires. The stone erupted upwards, forming a crude, chest-high earthen wall, a simple but effective application of his staff's Earth Magic, providing his men momentary cover.
"On the weaver! Now!" their leader yelled.
The four legionnaires, their Tier 1 Martial Magic glowing bravely, one with speed-enchanted legs, two with strength-enhanced arms, one with a faint shimmer of durability around his torso, burst from behind the cover, fanning out to flank Lyssa. They knew their runes were pathetic compared to Jax's, but against a mage, numbers and pressure were everything.
Lyssa's ocean-blue circle spun, her expression one of cold focus. She wasn't afraid. A lance of pressurized water, thick as my arm and moving with the speed of a crossbow bolt, shot towards the lead legionnaire. He tried to dodge, his speed runes flaring, but the water clipped his shoulder. It didn't cut; it pulverized. The force spun him around, his armor denting inward with a loud crunch. He went down, clutching a shattered collarbone.
But the distraction worked. The other three closed in. The two strength-enhanced fighters lunged, their swords aiming to disrupt her concentration. Lyssa was forced to abandon her offensive, her circle shifting. A dome of swirling water erupted around her, deflecting the sword strikes with immense fluid pressure. The blades sank into the watery shield and were violently shoved back, the soldiers struggling to maintain their footing against the relentless current. It was a stalemate, but a costly one, Evander's men were pinning down their most versatile asset.
This was my window.
Jax had finished his butcher's work and now turned his glowing violet eyes towards Evander, who was already channeling another spell. The mountain of muscle began to charge, his footsteps cracking the stone floor.
Acceleration Loop.
The world slowed. Or rather, I sped up. Ki flooded my legs, and I became a blur. I didn't run at Jax; I intercepted his path to Evander, sliding to a stop between them.
He didn't even break stride. A fist the size of a roasting ham, sheathed in that terrifying violet glow, came at my head like a cannonball. I didn't try to block it. I knew my arm would shatter. Instead, I dropped, letting the wind of the blow rustle my hair, and swept my leg, Ki-enhanced, at his ankle.
It was like kicking a stone pillar. The impact jarred my entire leg, but I felt something give, a microscopic shift in his balance. It was enough. His momentum, combined with my perfectly timed sweep, made him stumble forward a single, clumsy step.
It was all the opening Evander needed.
A sphere of roiling fire, the size of a man's head, shot from the tip of his staff. It wasn't a wild blast; it was aimed with precision, streaking towards Jax's exposed back.
Jax, off-balance, couldn't dodge. He twisted, bringing his arm up. The fireball exploded against his forearm. The violet runes flared brilliantly, absorbing the blast. The smell of burnt hair and ozone filled the air. He roared in pain and fury, not a crippling wound, but the first real damage he'd taken. His arm was scorched, the skin blackened and blistering.
He forgot about Evander. His entire world narrowed onto me.
He lunged, faster than I thought possible. A grab for my throat. I activated the Loop again, sidestepping, feeling his thick fingers brush against my collar. I drove a Ki-reinforced fist into his ribs, aiming for the same spot Evander had scorched.
Crack.
It wasn't the sound of breaking bone, but the sound of my own knuckles protesting against an impossibly hard surface. Pain shot up my arm. I'd hurt him, but I'd hurt myself more. He grunted, more in annoyance than pain, and backhanded me.
I couldn't fully avoid it. I threw my arms up, reinforcing them with Ki at the last second.
The impact was colossal. It felt like being hit by a runaway wagon. My Ki cushion saved my bones from breaking, but the force lifted me off my feet and sent me skidding backward across the bloody floor, my boots leaving trails in the gore.
I gasped, my arms numb. This wasn't working. I could dance around him all day, but I couldn't put him down. I was a fly buzzing around a bull, and eventually, he would swat me.
"Again!" Evander commanded.
I pushed myself up, the Healing Potion's energy already repairing the fresh damage. I saw Evander's staff glowing, not with fire, but with a concentrated, swirling gust of Air Magic. He wasn't aiming at Jax.
He was aiming at me.
I didn't have time to question it. I trusted the instinct. I activated the Acceleration Loop and charged Jax once more.
As I did, Evander unleashed the spell. A focused cyclone of wind slammed into my back. It didn't hurt me; it propelled me. My speed, already superhuman, doubled in an instant. I became a living projectile.
Jax, expecting my usual hit-and-run, was caught completely off guard. He swung his massive fist, but I was already inside his guard, carried by the hurricane at my back. I put my entire body, every ounce of my enhanced speed and the wind's propulsive force, into a single, Ki-reinforced palm strike aimed directly at his sternum.
The sound was a deep, resonant THUMP that echoed through the corridor.
Jax's eyes bulged. The air left his lungs in a pained whoosh. For the first time, he was knocked off his feet. He stumbled back, not with a graceful fall, but with the heavy, unbalanced crash of a felled tree, landing flat on his back.
The corridor fell silent for a split second, save for the swirling of Lyssa's water shield and the grunts of the legionnaires.
I stood panting, my chest heaving, my palm throbbing. We'd done it. We'd coordinated. We'd used his power as my weapon.
But as I looked at Jax, already pushing himself up onto his elbows, his violet runes burning with a deeper, more furious light, I knew it wasn't over. We had angered the mountain. And an angry mountain was far more dangerous than a calm one.