Codename: Freedom - Dragonslayer, page 32
Mel put his hand behind his back, planning on getting in one last good shot to take one of them out when the enemy leader smirked, glancing in his direction. It was a dare he realized. The man had known Lucius was coming and wanted Mel to try one last cast.
Whatever he’d been thinking was quickly forgotten as Lucius didn’t waste any time falling. His friend hadn’t even entered the tunnel and yet he could see the distortion under his feet from such a distance. It propelled him downward as quickly as psionically possible.
Once he was up to speed, the man didn’t stop. Mel tried to swallow down the forming knot in his throat and tasted blood.
***
“He’s going too fast!” Mia said frantically. It was her turn to jump to her feet.
“LeLisa, what has been his fastest speed in today’s event?” Mr. Ratchet asked.
Their in-house genius with the ditzy personality already had her AI creating a side-by-side comparison. The window popped up a moment later.
As for his fastest speed, he’d reached 239 MPH once while averaging a top speed of 221 MPH when diving. But now?
His current speed was 270 MPH.
He wasn’t even at the halfway point and was still accelerating. The moment he did, Mia’s hand shot to her mouth. 330 MPH.
“How can he accelerate that fast?” Mr. Ratchet asked.
A sudden close up appeared on screen with the image brightened thanks to Oren. It showed something that was mostly invisible to the naked eye. He wasn’t just pushing out of his feet as most psionic users did. Psionic energy was flying out of him at an outward and downward angle from his head all the way down to his feet.
“That’s why he chose the narrower wall by the maze,” LeLisa said matter-of-factly. “He’s using it.”
“Isn’t he cutting it too close?” Bolt blurted out.
“Was he?” Mia wondered. He still hadn’t angled his approach. She watched as he flew toward the ground at a reckless pace. She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath.
When he did pull up, the angle looked too sharp, but his legs parted, and his elbows flared while he kept ahold of the spears he was carrying.
Before his trajectory changed, Mia saw the last reading. 392 MPH.
It should’ve been impossible. Not only did he manage to round his approach, but there was a smoothness to it that hadn’t been there in his earlier dives.
He’d slowed down. He would’ve had to, right? But as he rocketed over the ground that didn’t seem to be the case at all.
Mia checked. 346 MPH and he was beginning to slow. Still, he’d kept much of the momentum he’d built while falling.
Brendon Black and his men were already there waiting for him. Psionic bolts began to fly. Even if the girth of the tunnel was about twenty feet at the narrowest, it was twice that where the Forefathers stood.
“Lucius should be an easy target, right?” Bolt asked.
As if to answer his question, Prodos’s Right Hand flew to one side of the tunnel, ascending slightly as he did.
“His speed,” LeLisa said in unbelief. She came to her feet to stand by Mia.
Lucius was using the one wall to push against and increase his speed even more. He’d dipped below 325 MPH but was once again climbing slowly.
Mr. Ratchet cuffed Bolt on the back and motioned for him to stand. Soon the four of them were on their feet and watching anxiously for how the exchange would go.
Except, something was wrong.
Traveling at such speeds, even the smallest movements would affect his trajectory. He was able to remain against one wall momentarily, but soon he was flying across the gap toward the other. As soon as he reached it, he used it as well. That too was short lived.
They could all feel it. He was about to lose control. He was just going too fast. Then it happened. He darted toward the opposite wall once more only to bounce off of it toward the other one. Like a human pinball machine, he ricocheted between walls at an ever-increasing pace.
Mia had her hand covering her face even if she was peaking between fingers. Leaning forward while squinting, LeLisa froze while trying to calculate the possibilities. Mr. Ratchet had both hands up in fists as if readying to block the wall when it came. As for Bolt, well—Bolt screamed.
Lucius’s entire descent took a matter of seconds. He reached them quickly. Not only was he in a state of frantic rebound, but he was also gaining altitude in small increments between each ricochet.
When Major Lucius Edwards approached and none of their bolt struck home, Brendon commanded for his men to throw themselves against the walls. His timing was good, and their opponent was going to soar right over their heads.
As the man reached them, his trajectory changed. He was gone as quickly as he had come.
Nobody even noticed it until they’d caught their breath. One of Brendon’s men that hadn’t fully reached the wall had been cut in half.
Then Mia saw him. Lucius had regained control of his flight path and was even using the ground to slow. It took him so long that he exited the tunnel all together and stood before the base belonging to the battalion that hadn’t been able to defeat their Manticore King.
Pushing himself up off the ground, he remained there for a brief moment and waved at the men in the towers. Then he hovered back the way he came.
“How many times did he die when trying to learn something like that?” Mr. Ratchet grumbled. “What would possess him to even try?”
Mia knew Lucius well enough to know exactly why he dared such a thing. She responded, “War.”
***
He had to hand it to Lucius. When the Forefathers hadn’t been able to hit him with their bolts, Mel had found it quite easy to scale the Manticore King, steal the flag, and tumble to the ground on the other side of the monster. Leaning his back against it, he continued healing himself. Lucius wasn’t delaying his return. Mel was getting dizzy just watching the guy jump back and forth between the walls as he flew this way. At least he wasn’t flying at a ridiculous speed.
“The flag,” someone called.
It wasn’t the only thing he heard. Lucius had definitely hit someone because there was a guy moaning with all of his strength as if it would help in his recovery. He was all too familiar with the sound. The slow bellowing way he cried out meant he was dead and knew it, but it would take some time, and he wasn’t in his right mind to do anything else.
Then he heard something that he didn’t expect. Brendon Black rebuked the guy and called for him to end their man’s suffering.
As Lucius drew near, Mel heard him say through his headset, “Good job. How bad is it? Can you make it to the top and continue healing yourself there?”
“Can I have a nap first?” He held back a laugh. “Yeah. It might be ten minutes before I can make it back to the base, though.”
“That works.”
“Sure you don’t want to just return the flag yourself?” He already knew the answer.
“Tying for first isn’t good enough.”
“I could try to bleed on one and blind him.”
“You could probably also kill a few with your overcharged bolt while I distract them, but you’ve already done enough. It’s time.”
He knew what he meant. They’d been spending a lot more time together and had discussed this at length.
“Fine,” Mel said, forcing himself to his feet.
Lucius was close enough that they’d already seen him bounding toward them. He was about three stories up. That didn’t mean Mel was in the clear. He knew this was going to hurt, but it was time for him to go. He took two explosive steps before pushing himself into a hover and darting away from the manticore and the Forefathers just beyond it.
“Please, try it,” Lucius said, lifting his voice.
Mel took that as a sign that he should stop hovering in a straight line. He grinned when not even a bolt was thrown in his direction. He waited until he neared the end of the tunnel before beginning his painful ascent.
Chapter 37
The remaining six rank D users didn’t dare to scale the manticore or go around it. The exception was Brendon Black who jumped up to the monster’s side. With a shield in his left hand and Warhammer in his right, he stood lazily as he smirked up at me.
“Are you going to keep running?” the man challenged.
“Why would I leave when there’s a perfectly good point offering itself up to me?” I asked.
Grinning widely, the man showed his teeth. “So you want me to have my men stand down so we can have a fair fight?”
I slowed my forward movement as I idly pushed myself back and forth between the gap a good twenty yards above them. Then I replied. “Why would I want that?”
Brendon chuckled before releasing a mighty psionic push that threw him toward the wall. The moment he reached it, he sprung right at me.
His special attack was charged. His war hammer was ready to go. Like a lion in full leap, his attack blurred as he reached me.
I full body wind walked in an angle he couldn’t follow, then kicked out, giving his feet a psionic push through my foot. Suddenly, he was spinning end over end as he sped toward the far wall.
He was too athletic for it to be his end. Just barely getting his feet underneath him, he caught himself before returning to the ground.
“Nice trick,” Brendon said with a snort. “Enough games.” He’d returned his warhammer to his back. Throwing out his hand, he unleashed a psionic bolt. Five others flew in my direction.
Rank D psionic bolts didn’t fly as fast as rail-rounds, and they were much easier to see because their size, but the slowest flew at least twice as fast as even the most powerful man could throw. The fastest were several times that. And they could be far more accurate. The range of skill was that vast. These men were not weak.
I was nowhere as close as Mel had been, but I was also midair. This was the same dilemma I’d faced when taking to the air to dodge Krato’s dive bombing attacks. His skill and ability were beyond me. It had forced me to look past everything I knew. To lose the ballistic suit and look for every advantage I could gain while in the air.
One of my greatest shifts in the way I thought made today possible. I no longer used psionic push just out of my hands and feet. It hadn’t been natural at first. Krato had been right. But something happens when you leave the ground.
It wasn’t my eyes I could depend upon in that moment. Energy thrust out of my side from head to foot, sending me on a collision course with the wall.
The six psionic bolts sizzled past.
It was a deadly game I was playing. I didn’t have the defensive ability of Mel or Kline. But I believed I could win. It wasn’t a game I just played daily. I unceasingly bared with an alien predator killing me as soon as my resistance faltered. I floated amongst a world of endless cuteness as a semi-sentient AI did her darndest to tag me with bubbles and reward me for my failures as much as my victories.
Flying hadn’t just become my death and entertainment. The wife I’d taken in secret had challenged gravity and danced with the wind from childhood until now. As she teased and flirted, chasing after her became synonymous with my intimate refuge and relief. But most of all, the limits of what my mind believe possible shattered at an unknown time during the process.
As if balancing on the edge of a knife, I slipped past flesh-rupturing energy bolts as I flew back and forth. By the time they reached their third volley, they were growing wise to my evasion pattern and acted accordingly.
They didn’t just throw bolts at me but anticipated where I would be.
I wasn’t relying on a pattern or what I thought they might do. It wouldn’t have mattered what they were throwing at me. Destiny had made sure of that. Even without extending my psionic energy into my surroundings, I was sensitive to the world’s fluctuations. Psionic bolts were the easiest. They had a glaring presence. It made it that much easier to feel them coming.
A push to the side. A turn of the shoulder.
When the last bolt came, one I couldn’t avoid, I didn’t resign myself to the end. Turning sideways, I greeted the bolt’s arrival. I pushed. Not only did I fly backward, but the bolt blew off course, burning into the nearby wall.
Brendon Black squawked as if it actually hit me. “Lucky,” he called out. “But what’s the point if you can’t hurt us? Go on. Fly back up to the place that you came from and fly at us again. I dare you.”
His insistence could only mean he had something in mind to counter Falling Spear. It was only a matter of time before someone figured something out.
The next wall I rebounded off of sent me flying over their head in a large arc. Once I reached the side opposite them, I didn’t remain airborne but landed and faced them.
I hadn’t put myself in a better position. It was far worse than where I’d been just moments before.
***
“What’s he doing?” Mia asked frantically. “He just barely parried that last attack.”
“He’s about to give them a point,” Bolt complained.
LeLisa muttered, “I mean, he has been one to sacrifice himself in the past. But this doesn’t make sense. Even if they figure out a way to stop his diving attack, it will have more meaning if he keeps fighting.”
A screen appeared in the bottom corner where they found Colonel Victoria Golshan removing her headset. To one side of the room filled with their small intelligence team, a wall panel from floor to ceiling lit up with Lucius facing off with Brendon Black and his men.
“Did her headset break?” Bolt wondered aloud.
“No, she’s obviously making a statement, “LeLisa said.
They watched as she walked over to stand before the panel, folded her hands behind her back, and watched intently.
“Is she trying to make the point that if he loses, it wasn’t her that made the call to put his point in danger?” Mr. Ratchet asked.
“That’s not the look of an enraged superior officer,” Mia rebutted. “And you guys saw what she did at the end of his fight the first time he fought a Manticore King. They might disagree and not get along, but that doesn’t mean there’s no respect. If anything, I’d say she’s eager to see what he does next.”
***
The Forefathers noticed how bad of a position I was in and slowly took up a more advantageous formation as we spoke.
Brendon chuckled. “You said you were after the point for beating me. Going back on your word already?”
“Win or lose, I’ve already won,” I said. “Look around you.”
Inclining his head, the man looked down his nose at me.
I put words to my rebuke. “You’re struggling to kill a rank E user who just barely reached high level before the event. It might be a year before I reach rank D. This isn’t a fight, Brendon. It’s a call to action. I’ve unlocked every basic psionic ability, but you’re more talented than I am. I don’t have any unique psionic talent like you do, or Mel, or the Real Major.”
Scowling, he licked the fronts of his teeth before countering, “Your movement techniques.”
“Are not unique. That’s the point. There’s nothing special about what I’ve developed. Anyone that has unlocked psionic push at the same rank has the potential. But it’s not your fault. Not really. You’ve been trained to fight the way you do. And I’ll give you credit. You’ve dared to join me in the air when no one else has. Even if you only lasted one exchange.”
Clenching his jaw, the enemy leader took an aggressive stance. “Thank you for the point.”
Firing off a psionic bolt, Brendon’s men followed suit.
Dodging from such a close distance while grounded should’ve been my end and even would’ve been a month before. But there was something Victoria inspired. Destiny helped me take it to its full conclusion.
I didn’t launch myself upward or bound to the side. Pushing out of the back of my head and the front of my feet, I flipped where I stood as a push from my back tossed me face first to the ground. Their bolts flew over my head where I’d just been standing.
With my stomach hovering just an inch off the ground, I was seemingly in the worst position possible.
The closest guy was ten yards away. It wasn’t a shot anyone should miss, let alone a career soldier at the highest rank.
This ground material was not psionic friendly, but by using the surface area of my entire body, I flashed upward, dodging their next attack only to stop and hover there six feet off the ground.
A few of them laughed uncomfortably. I looked absurd.
At first, this position had bothered me. To them, I was a head and shoulders, looking up at them even though they were the ones firmly on their feet. There was something unnatural about it. A creepiness to having only a head as a target that darted around in every which direction as it willed.
When I’d thrown out my innate desire to keep my feet under me, something incredible happened. I could make myself as small a target as possible to any enemy I faced. Therefore, floating on a bed of psionic downforce, I lay there comfortably on my belly while watching the enemy gawk at me.
Aeneus Raptis’s ability to quite literally fly in the right environment had fascinated me to no end. It had equally disappointed me when I realized it was impossible for me to do what he did. But it wasn’t impossible. My limitations were simply greater than his.
They tried again.
I launched myself to the side, staying parallel to the ground. Like a rubber ball, I bounded from the wall, but I didn’t obey the trajectory physics required. As I flew over their heads, I was what I’d once considered upside down.
A few tried following me with their eyes, but I stayed lower just overhead. Most of them turned to face where they thought I’d end up. In their hands, they had bolts ready. What they didn’t have were their psionic shields active.
Reaching down, I touched one on the top of the head. Out sprang a simple rank E bolt at point blank range. What his rank was didn’t matter. Without his shielding or internal walls active, the man’s brain ruptured.
Where I ended up, they couldn’t have guessed. I didn’t move like an airborne ball or even the birds they’d watched all their lives. A full body push sent me back to the same wall I’d bounded off of.
