Oath of the Survivor

Kyle froze for a fraction of a second, taking in the sight.  There’s just no way…  The reality of his circumstances sank in a moment later, and crimson light danced around him as Ignition activated.  He made it to his front doorway, only to be blasted directly backward by a wave of force.  Snarling, Kyle stood and dashed again, his efforts rewarded with another shockwave. 

The entry to his residence was cracked and buckling, not designed to handle attacks like the ones that struck it.  As Kyle was preparing to exit again, a sharp voice cut through the air. 

“Give it up, Mayhew.  Our associate is long gone with your little weapon.  We weren’t hired to fight you, and we don’t want to make more of a scene than we already have.  Admit you’ve lost with some grace, and everybody walks away unharmed.”

Kyle snarled, Ignition still burning through his body.  Despite his roaring headache, a cold clarity was beginning to bubble up.  “Who the hell are you?”  Kyle spat back.

“Nobody important,” the voice said.  “Now, deactivate your boosting skill and sit in the doorway of your home.  We’ll wait for a couple of minutes, and this will all be over.”

Kyle closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  The air around him was swirling with dust and splintered wood, and he couldn’t afford the distraction.  Instead, he focused on the impression offered by Auric Perception.  His pulse quickened when he finally filtered through the input from Sensory Barbs.  There were three presences outside the residence, each one carrying an aura potent enough to challenge him alone.

Almost certainly mid-tier D Grade.  He should have felt concern.  His mind should have been racing to find a solution.  Instead, he got angry.  Cold fire burned in his chest as Ignition continued to flare, building up toward its equilibrium.    “I think you have things a little backwards,” Kyle said, ice in his voice.  “If your ally doesn’t come back with C.H.A.D.D., they’ll have three dead friends.”

He could hear laughter outside the house, quieting as the voice responded.  “Now that’s just a shame.  Here I was thinking we could keep things civil, and you had to go and threaten us.  A mistake, to be sure.  Nergal, if you’d be so kind?”

Auric Perception screamed a warning as a blast of wind struck the house, the force shearing away walls and supporting structures.  Kyle was blown back, and the ruins of the house fell around him.  A year ago, that would have been an inconvenience.  Kyle shifted the rubble around him, then exploded into movement.  Judging by the loud swearing behind him, they hadn’t expected Kyle to simply run away. 

His armor was still buried in the rubble of the house, but there was really nothing he could do about it.  Kyle could only use it to its fullest when C.H.A.D.D. was around, and without the drone it would offer little protection beyond what his Enhanced Carapace and Ferric Augmentation brought to the table.  He suppressed nausea as he processed the completely uninhibited input from Sensory Barbs, the amount of information truly staggering.

Auric Perception warned him of an incoming attack, just as he felt the air behind him swirl.  On instinct, Kyle jumped to the side, just in time for an arrow to pass through the space he’d been occupying.  It flew forward, exploding in a shower of sparks and flames when it struck a building 40 meters away.  He ducked as another flew over his head, and a third barely scraped his shoulder as it passed by.

In other circumstances, Kyle would be grinning.  Even though he was a long way from mastery, the synergy between his skills was on full display.  As things stood, however, Kyle was focused on one thing: finding C.H.A.D.D.

Fortunately, the options to escape Torrel were fairly limited.  They were either waiting for a ship to pick them up from the entrance in the storm, or they were going to try and make use of the teleporter in Pokke.  If it was as simple as getting onto a ship, his attackers would have bought enough time already.  That left the tunnel.  With far fewer styxlions and D Grades at this level, making the journey would be trivial.  The best evidence supporting his theory is that they were still following him.  He was running toward the tunnel entrance, which was opposite the direction of the surface entrance. 

Kyle felt himself gaining ground on his pursuers, right until he felt a barrier of energy appear in front of him.  He turned to the side, only to find himself hemmed in by another plate of force.  His eyes widened as a final plate appeared over his head.  He was trapped in a box of mana, and it had only taken a second.  He looked through the translucent wall of the cube, finally laying eyes on the three approaching figures.

Two walked toward him; a red-haired woman wearing an expensive-looking set of light armor and holding a bow, while the man beside her strode forward with a broadsword slung over his massive shoulder, muscular physique and tan skin visible beneath the padded armor he wore.  The third member floated in the air above, hands clasped together and panting heavily.  The man with sword spoke, the voice Kyle heard before.

“You’re a real pain, do you know that?  We could have had a nice chat, instead you made us chase you across the whole damn city.  Iska, what do you think the payment should be for his disrespect?”

The woman cocked her head as she nocking an arrow, though not aiming it at him.  “An arm is probably sufficient.  Maybe a leg?  Teach him not to run from his betters.  What do you think, Nergal?  You’re the one who caught him, after all.”

“I… just want... to go home,” the man in the robes puffed.  “Though… for what it’s worth… I don’t think it’d be smart… to let him out of the cage.”

Iska smirked as she looked up at Nergal.  “What, you don’t think Wallace and I can handle him?  I promise, we can do a little more damage than your little gust of wind.”

“Nergal may have a point, Iska.  Take a good look at him, something feels wrong.  Maybe it’d be better to put him out of his misery.”  Wallace said, still wearing a relaxed smile.

“You both know that’s not part of the job,” Nergal said, seeming to have caught his breath.  “Killing him just invites trouble.”

The three continued to bicker for a moment, though Kyle wasn’t paying attention.  The small cage narrowed the range of his Sensory Barbs, releasing much of the auxiliary pressure he’d been feeling.  Keeping Ignition burning, Kyle activated Identify.  He focused on the translucent planes of force, seeing a combination of air affinity mana shaped and given form by a skill. 

The barrier was durable, though not nearly at the level of Storm Shelter.  Furthermore, the plates of the barrier weren’t fully sealed together into a cube.  It was rather like they were stuck together by virtue of tension.  This likely wouldn’t have meant much to most D Grades, but Kyle’s experience with Storm Shelter had taught him a lot about how to properly structure a shield like this. 

Plates of energy began to form around Kyle as the trio chatted, and Nergal was the first to notice something was wrong.  “Holy – he shouldn’t have range to do that.  We have intel on that skill, he shouldn’t have the range!”

Sure enough, the plates of Storm Shelter were beginning to press against the interior of the Mage’s barrier.  Kyle saw mana flowing through the floating man, and a thin trickle of blood flowed out of his nose as he struggled to hold Kyle’s prison together.  Unfortunately for him, it was like trying to plug a dam with bubble gum.  For all his power, the other man was a long way behind Kyle in terms of raw Willpower, and that was before accounting for the boost offered by Ignition.

The prison around him shattered as Storm Shelter broke through, taking its full form.  Three arrows smashed into the barrier a moment later, blocked with contemptuous ease.  Wallace let out a whistle as Nergal fell to the ground, barely landing on his feet.  “The reports weren’t kidding about your shield, it’s impressive stuff.  I half-expected this to be courtesy of your little robot, if I’m being honest.  Good to see you have some skills.”

Kyle didn’t bother responding, mind racing in overdrive.  He needed to get free of these people to pursue their companion into the tunnels, but that was easier said than done.  An arrow streaked at his head, while the ground beneath his feet exploded.  His body was peppered with shrapnel while his footing was threatened, and Kyle was barely able to duck out of the way of the arrow in time.

He half expected to see Wallace dashing toward him, but instead he stamped his foot on the ground, releasing another explosion centered on Kyle’s location.  A quick jump got Kyle out of range, though an accelerating volley of arrows kept him pinned down and prevented further progress.  Kyle got a good look at a projectile as it passed, Identify doing its work.  The arrows appeared to be mana constructs, with each one carrying a variety of different properties.

Kyle was confident in taking a few hits head on, but the secondary properties seemed to be focused on binding and snaring, which he could ill-afford.  Kyle slammed into a rapidly-appearing wall of air, courtesy of Nergal, and barely managed to step out of the way before being captured in another cube.

For every 2 steps Kyle was able to make toward the tunnel, he was being forced back one.  The team coordinated well, keeping the Survivalist at a reasonable distance while hampering his freedom of movement.  Kyle knew that, if he pushed, he would be able to close the distance on them and force a more direct engagement.  He also understood that if he did, he would lose even more time as C.H.A.D.D. was dragged down into the tunnels. 

A whisper in the air was all the warning Kyle got.  The barest hint of something moving unseen, and then Nergal let out a scream as a phantasmal styxlion appeared, ripping at his shoulder.  Wallace swore and turned to attack it, only for the captured beast to disengage, fading back into stealth.  Kyle felt a familiar power surge into being, moving closer with speed. 

Blood dripped down the injured man’s shoulder, though with practiced movements Nergal drew a vial from a pouch on his belt, drinking the contents while Iska covered him.  Wallace held his blade up in a defensive stance, eyes wary.  Kyle tried to use the distraction to slip away, though another explosion of earth forced him back.

Then, across all the city’s communication infrastructure, Ma’Sai’s voice spoke.  “You dare come to my city uninvited?  You dare disrupt my festival, my banquet, my celebration?  You dare to disrespect my honored guests, steal their property, and assault them?  You dare to destroy what my family has built?  Let my message be clear to you, and to any who would do such a thing again.  You will pay for your insolence with your lives.”