ALL NOVEL Chapter 44: Lotus Eater
We stumbled into the office; Kayson was blocking Suzaki off from a trio of Red Eagle goons. To the left, the Captain exchanged blows with one of the Crimson Eagles; she had a mad grin as an odd violet ribbon floated around her.
Her ribbon snapped forward—wrapping around the neck of the Crimson Eagle, right as Captain Atkins darted in and snapped her fist into the guy’s midsection. He grunted—his skin bled into a light blue. The Seventh Division Captain jumped backward a second later, her purple ribbon wrapping around her skin in a protective layer.
Just as the ribbon finished wrapping around the Captain, the blue-skinned man discharged a massive pillar of prismatic light. I yelled in alarm as the light slammed into the Captain and flung her backward. The Soul Ability drove her right through the wall.
I reacted immediately and directed one of my Crows at the guy attacking the Captain. My crow barreled towards the man and sunk its talons in his neck with a shower of red sparks. He screamed, body twisting as the pillar of prismatic light in his hands lost control. It cut through the ceiling—causing more cracking until a chunk of plaster smashed into his head. The light cut off.
He wasn’t down based on the groaning and moving, I started to head over to put him down for good. But Eve shoved me.
It was good she did, because a whip snapped through the air where I’d been—followed with a crack of lightening as electricity volted out from the thin metal wire.
My attention snapped towards the Crimson Eagle, who tried to cheap shot me. He’d been harassing Kayson—but now he’d Manifest his soul to handle me. It was a rather formidable one, encased in slick steel armor and wielding a coil of flexible cable wrapped around its right shoulder. Wherever that cable cascaded, it zapped with visible bolts of current.
The brute behind the Knight-like Soul grinned at me and thumbed his nose. “You deal with me, Brass King.”
Eve took a look at the guy, then turned a concerned glance to me. She whispered, “Cover your ears.”
I didn’t hesitate and jammed my fingers in to mute the noise. Not that it was enough to stop the screech when she used her Soul Ability. The Crimson Eagle stumbled, his eyes bugling out. His Manifested Soul followed suit; it lost its stability as the noise cut in and dug deep. I managed a single step towards him before feeling a sudden rush of nausea.
My crows were partially effected. Not as strongly since I muted the noise, but they still had a hard time dealing with it. Each of them landed on the ground—unresponsive towards my direction to attack the guy with a Manifested Soul. But they didn’t react in time, unable to focus.
Eve’s screech vanished as a burst of prismatic light slammed into her and crashed her into the back wall.
I slammed a hand into myself—and got lucky again. A cascade of blue electricity zapped my skin, and I took off. Right towards that Knight-like Soul before it could gather its bearings. As I sprinted, I gave a quick mental command to my Crows to take to the air again, thankful for the fast recovery.
Captain Atkins exploded through the hole in the wall she’d been flung from—the silk ribbon extending down the length of her arm to wrap around the head of the Crimson Eagle shooting the pillars of light. I couldn’t spare that part of the fight much attention and trusted her and Kayson to hold on.
I’d picked my target. The guy with the Manifested Soul was bad news.
The electric whip lashed out again, and sparks flew from the long metallic coil but passed over me. One of my Crows slammed into its head and shoved a talon into its visor. I followed the crow's attack by smashing my knee directly into the Soul's groin—it shifted as it tried to fend off my Crow, leaving an exposed gap in the armor between the legs.
There was a clang as my knee crunched into its crotch. For a second, I’d thought I’d done no damage. But then the figure shuddered. I’d hit a vital spot, and it seemed this Manifested Soul shared the same weak spot as the entire male side of the human race.
As Romeo taught me, ride the momentum of a fight. I direct my crows to a full attack, another one of them slamming into the faceplate and jamming its talons through the visor. I extracted myself from close quarters with the Soul and rushed towards the other Cultivator. My third crow dived towards the Cultivator as well to provide support.
Unfortunately, the whip cracked through the air again and clipped my Crow in the torso. It fried it as it gave a horrible screech before crashing into the ground. A knife jabbed into my Soul, accompanied by sudden fatigue and nausea. No matter how hard I trained, I remained convinced the repercussions of Soul damage would never fade.
The Cultivator controlling the Knight-like Soul leaned against the wall breathing heavy. My attacks seemed to be having a devastating impact, or using the electricity took a high toll. His Soul flailed against my Crows—unable to effectively handle them at such a close range.
This was my chance. I pushed myself past the mental fatigue, letting my mind still like water. I rushed forward as a river and closed the distance between us. He tried to catch me with another desperate whip, but the act was sluggish, and I side-stepped it.
Once I got in distance, I snapped a kick at him. My foot cracked against his gut. He doubled over; I didn’t spare him time for recovery. Instead, I followed through by slamming my knuckles into his cheek. The Crimson Eagle backpedaled into the wall, and I continued to rain down blows. Eventually, he capitulated. He sank against the walls with black eyes and a lulling head.
The armor crumpled into a pile of Rust, and my crows took off. I took a moment to look around the room and see where I could help.
Captain Atkins was choking out the guy with the Light-based Ability—Eve was a heap on the ground. Kayson traded blows with the last Crimson Eagle, and Suzaki’s halo rested above Kayson’s head which helped even the playing field. I watched as the webs occasionally caught his enemy, preventing a blow or two.
But the guy didn’t feel any of the hits. Every punch caused his skin to deform and bend to wrap around Kayson’s fist.
Oh. That wasn’t fair.
He must’ve had some sort of defensive Soul Seed, and blunt damage wasn’t going to work. I raised a hand and mustered the last bit of will I had, only to force my crows to spiral at the bastard. They crashed into his back in a storm of feathers and sharp talons. The razor-like talons countered his defensive ability.
My intrusion gave Kayson a chance to work. His spiders wrapped around the enemy's neck and weaved a thick web. After about ten seconds of struggle between Kayson and the Crows—he managed to gain an advantage. His fingers locked around one of my Crows and bashed its head against the floor. I sank to my knees and gasped.
But the spiders finished weaving the web rope. Kayson wrapped it securely around his knuckles, then yanked it downward. This caused the noose to tighten and cut off air. Our enemy struggled and gasped, but he could no longer put up a fight after enough time.
My last crow vanished in a shower of sparks.
Captain Atkins laughed, clapping her hands as her ribbon tossed her enemy against the wall. He crumpled to the ground, joining the rest.
Suzaki rushed past Kayson towards Eve—shattering the halo above Kayson’s head and reforming it.
I crawled over to the wall and let myself support my back against it. We’d done it. With the help of Eve and Maya, I’d made it here with enough time to prevent a slaughter. I’d managed to tip the scales just enough in our favor at the right moment. I’d changed fate.