The lead trader's threat was still hanging in the air when Silas moved.
There was no warning. One moment he stood beside Valerius, a statue of shadow and steel. The next, he was behind the lead trader. The man's threat became a wet gurgle as a black dagger opened his throat. The peacock feather mask tilted skyward as its owner crumpled.
"Kill them all," Valerius commanded, ice already crawling from his boots. "Recover the assets."
The field exploded into chaos.
Garm's roar shook the air as he lunged into the slavers' guards, a whirlwind of claws and fury. Arrows from Lyra veered on an impossible arc to punch through the chest of several of Seraphine's archers. They were cutting down everyone.
"Time to go!" Roric yelled, his hands already working frantically at the chains. "Let's just run together."
But they weren't just chained to each other. The massive, timid man from the cages was linked to them, his eyes wide with terror. He pulled against them, a dead weight of pure panic.
"Run, you oaf!" Roric shouted, straining.
"I can't!" the big man whimpered, frozen.
Kai grunted, planting his feet. He felt a spark of that alien power flicker in his chest. He pulled, not with his muscles alone, but with something deeper. The chain snapped taut, and the big man stumbled forward a step.
It wasn't enough.
A blur of grey fur closed the distance. Garm. The werewolf lunged, jaws wide, aiming for the big man's leg.
Kai didn't think. He threw himself forward, putting his own body between them. The impact was brutal. The tip of Garm's claws raked Kai's shoulder instead, but the force of Kai's charge, fueled by that strange energy, was enough to knock the beast back. The chain connecting him to Roric and the big man snapped like a dry twig.
Garm shook his head, snarling, ready to pounce again. But the momentary distraction had cost them. The path to the open field was now blocked by a wall of fighting bodies.
Kai's eyes scanned the chaos and found Seraphine. She was dueling Valerius, and she was losing. His new ice magic lashed out in sharp, crystalline shards, shredding her defenses. Her sword arm was bleeding, her movements slowing.
Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Kai changed direction. He charged toward their clashing blades.
Roric saw him go. "Not again!" he groaned, but tried to follow, but he was chained to the stunned big man .
As Valerius raised his sword for a final, freezing strike against a cornered Seraphine, Kai barreled into him. It wasn't a skilled tackle, just raw, desperate force. The Captain grunted in surprise, stumbling back, the killing blow diverted.
Silas, from across the field, saw his primary target intervene. His hollow eyes narrowed.
Seraphine stared at Kai, her breath ragged, a mix of shock and confusion on her face.
Kai's tackle saved Seraphine but left him exposed. As he scrambled back from a furious Valerius, a cold, unnatural light enveloped Roric.
"Captis in Pila!" Lyra's voice cut through the battle's din.
A sphere of shimmering, solid energy snapped into existence around Roric. He slammed his fists against the inside, but the sphere didn't even shudder; it just hovered, trapping him completely. "Hey! Let me out of this damned glass ball!"
Before Kai could react to Roric's capture, the air behind him shifted. He dropped into a crouch on instinct. The weighted pommel of Silas's dagger whistled through the space where his head had been.
Kai pivoted on the ball of his foot, his body coiling like a spring, and drove an uppercut upwards. His fist connected with a solid crack against Silas's jaw, snapping the assassin's head back. The dagger clattered to the ground.
Silas staggered but didn't fall. He shook his head, a trickle of blood tracing from his lip. A slow, terrifying grin spread across his face. He made no move to retrieve his weapon.
"Good," Silas hissed. He sheathed his other dagger. "Show me your true strength."
He lunged. What followed was a blistering exchange of strikes, blocks, and counters. Silas was a whirlwind of precision, every move designed to kill. But Kai fought on raw, terrifying instinct, his body remembering things his mind had forgotten. He was slower, less refined, but each block sent a jolt up Silas's arms, each counter-punch carried unnatural force.
The other fights faltered. Seraphine, Garm, the slave traders, even Valerius—all watched, mesmerized by the sheer violence of the duel. It was a primal spectacle.
With a guttural roar, Kai feinted low and drove a fist into Silas's chest. The impact wasn't just physical; it was a concussive wave of air that lifted the assassin off his feet and sent him crashing backward, skidding to a halt at Valerius's feet.
Silas coughed, spat blood, and grinned up at his captain. "He's perfect."
Kai stood panting, his chest heaving. The world seemed to slow down. The fear for Roric, the rage at being hunted, the strange power simmering in his blood—it all coalesced into a single, white-hot point of focus. His eyes ignited into two pools of smoldering crimson.
He stretched his hand out toward the grouped Inquisition members—Valerius, Silas, and a wary Garm. The air around his palm twisted and darkened, pulling at the light.
"Hell... Blaze!" The words tore from him, ancient and unfamiliar.
A sphere of pure black energy, crackling with red lightning, bloomed in his hand. The ground at his feet trembled.
Valerius's eyes widened. He could feel the destructive potential—this wasn't an attack to be blocked or parried. It was annihilation. "Tch! Lyra!" was all he had time to bark.
The mage was already moving, her hands a blur. As the sphere of oblivion shot from Kai's palm, she slammed her hands together. The air around her teammates ripped.
The black sphere shot through the space where they had stood, obliterating a stand of trees fifty yards away in a silent, expanding wave of nothingness that then erupted into a thunderous boom.
Kai collapsed to one knee, the crimson light fading from his eyes, his body spent. Where the Inquisition had stood, there was only empty, scorched earth.
Lyra had teleported them away just in time.
The sphere of energy containing Roric flickered violently and then popped like a soap bubble as Lyra's sustaining magic vanished with her. Roric dropped a few inches to the ground, landing with a grunt. "Finally. Bad service in this place, I'm telling you."
A deafening silence had fallen over the field, broken only by the crackle of the distant fire started by Kai's blast. Every eye was locked on him. The remaining slave traders, the few of Seraphine's mercenaries still standing, even the big man—all were frozen, their faces a mixture of terror and disbelief.
Kai staggered to his feet, his body screaming in protest. He ignored the pain, his shoulders set. He walked slowly, deliberately, toward Seraphine. Each step was heavy with the weight of the power he had just unleashed. He stopped before her, and when he spoke, his voice was quiet, but it carried across the entire field with unnatural clarity. It was not a request.
"Release the people from the cages."
Seraphine, her sword still in her hand, looked from his exhausted but determined face to the scorched earth where a part of the forest used to be. The cold, calculating merchant was gone. In her place was a soldier who recognized absolute power when she saw it. She gave a sharp, single nod to her remaining people. "Do it."
Kai then turned his gaze to the huddled, terrified slave traders. "You. The ones you took today and the others—you will ensure they all reach their families safely. Unharmed. And for the ones already in your mines... you will release them, or you will pay them a fair wage for their labor. A king's wage."
He took a step closer, and his eyes, though no longer crimson, seemed to burn with the memory of the fire. "If you fail in this, I will know. And I will find you. There is no cage that can hold me, and no army that can stop me. Do you understand?"
There was no hesitation. There were no arguments. The traders nodded frantically, tripping over themselves to show compliance. The display of power had been too absolute, the threat too real. He was not a man; he was a force of nature, and the only sane response was obedience.
The cages were unlocked and the stunned, grateful people were freed, some still muttering inaudible curses at their captors.
Roric walked up to Kai, looking from the terrified slavers to the fading glow in Kai's eyes. He let out a long, slow breath.
"Well," he said, a genuine, slightly shaky laugh escaping him. "On the one hand, I've never been more terrified in my life. On the other hand, the benefits package of having a walking apocalypse as a best friend is looking pretty good."