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Chapter 3: Horizon on Fire

“Though Pinnacle Academy prides itself in being one of the top schools on Haven, most people automatically assume that this means every kid that graces its halls is combat ready. That everyone is special and has the potential to be the next General. This would certainly be true in say a decade or so when Pinnacle would see some of its students graduate from its new system of combat-focused education but the truth is, nothing care prepare you for the harsh reality of war.”

Silver Sniper (Alex)

Good Shot

It was stupid. It was utterly hormonal. It could completely compromise the operation but Alex couldn’t help himself. It had been too long since last he tasted another man and from the moment he saw Roan Northridge he knew he had to have him. In his mind, he knew that he was supposed to be seducing Konseral to gather information about the recent attempts on his life. However, right now all his primal instincts were telling him to find any way to strip that Tigris down and lick every inch of his sweaty torso until he had the taste committed to memory. In this case however, he believed that the best course of action was to try a little romance at first. It might take most of the evening to seduce Roran, but once the renowned blacksmith caught a glimpse of his ass and skills in battle when the fight against the Fuocotan eventually began he would be all his. Once the fireworks ended he could ‘celebrate’ with the Tigris by defiling one of the Bladebreakers’ many beds.

There were two problems however. The Bladebreaker guest manor didn’t have bedrooms. It was only constructed for entertainment purposes. Though it was over three storeys tall and quite spacious, there was no way anyone could subtly sneak off into someone’s quarters and defile any of the richly decorated bedsheets with sweat, seed and sex.

Secondly, he wasn’t too sure if Roran was into guys at all.

The hunky tiger had the solution to both.

Alex felt the warm, moist earth against his back, the gentle, magically created heat seeping through his suit and sending a tingle down his spine. A similar – though far more intense – heat was felt when Roran Northridge rested atop of him and pressed their crotches together. Roran’s lips pressed against his own, his rough tongue diving in for a tentative, exploratory expedition. When Alex met that invasive pink appendage with his own long, flat tongue, Roran took that as a sign and dove in fully. After not having had the pleasure of another man’s intimate contact for over two weeks, Alex found himself starved. His claws raked across Roran’s shirt. The sound of tearing fabric made them both stop for a second.

“Is this really okay?” Alex breathed.

“What?” Roran quipped, waggling his big, brown eyebrows. “You’re having second thoughts about sneaking into the Blakebreakers’ greenhouse and fucking amongst their flowers?”

Alex leaned forward and pressed his muzzle right between Roran’s thick, juicy pectorals. Whatever dance the feline had performed back in the ballroom had worked up quite a sweat. As Alex took in a deep whiff of the tiger’s scent, he could pick up the musky and slightly sour scent through the thin and rather revealing white formal shirt. Burying his muzzle even deeper into his chest Alex could practically taste the firm muscles hidden beneath. Tracing the strong crevice that sandwiched his sensitive nose up to the accentuated collarbone, he examined all the intricacies of the Tigris’ scent.

There was a strong manly twang to the odour telling him that Roran liked to work hard and his body likely sweated almost immediately at the start of a little physical exertion. With a little sniffing around Roran’s neck, he could detect a faint metallic hint, evidence of the Tigris’ chosen profession as a smith. But that was all on the surface. Any pup could deduce that. As he gently nibbled at Roran’s thick, muscled neck, he got a strong, earthy flavour all too familiar with a man who preferred the company of men – it was the scent of dried semen. Either Roran shot far and wide or the stunning feline specimen enjoyed getting bathed in his partners semen. There was also a distinct lack of aftershave or any form of cologne.

Alex reached over and grabbed the back of Roran’s neck, sniffing the big tiger’s hair and exploring more of that tantalising scent. Roran’s lush, brown hair was thick, but kept short. He had a few grey hairs here and there, but they blended so well with his dark brown hair that it would take a keen eye to notice. There was a faintly lavender-like smell of Havenese shampoo in his hair, but it smelled cheap and off-brand. Likely something, he had used in a hotel. A man’s man like this Tigris would probably have preferred to go without, but washed up for appearance’s sake.

The very aroused wolf drew less focus on what he could smell and more on the rest of his senses. He nibbled lightly on Roran’s neck. The Tigris’ rough paws groped clumsily at his coat, pawing against the fabric with a playfulness that ran contrary to the raging boner he barely kept in his pants. The faintest tickle of the tiger’s whiskers against his cheeks revealed the sliver of a smile. Clearly this cat liked to play with his food. But he was also very gentle. His tentative thrusts were sensual, serving to arouse both himself and Alex. That told Alex that Roran was very much skilled in the art of foreplay and lovemaking but a novice when it came to Havenese clothing.

“You can just tear it off,” he suggested.

When Roran chuckled, his entire chest rumbled. Alex could feel those strong pectorals shifting with the gesture. The tiger’s nipples were hard as diamonds and poking right through his thin shirt. Alex could feel them as well.

“You sure about that?” rumbled the tiger in his deep, sensual voice. “Aren’t these clothes expensive?”

Alex licked the Tigris’ cheek suggestively. “I think a moment of bliss is well worth the price of a few pieces of clothing, don’t you?”

Roran smirked at him and one of his big, paws gripped the collar of Alex’s shirt. His claws came out like five blades being unsheathed and he hooked Alex’s black tie with a single finger.

“Just a moment?” the tiger rumbled. “Don’t you know that tigers can go all night long?”

Roran’s tugged at the tie, loosening it and finally allowing Alex to breathe a little. His first breath free of that glorified hangman’s noose was quickly interrupted by Roran’s muzzle clamping around his own as he pushed his rough tongue down his throat, hungry for a taste. He moaned into the kiss, reaching up and gripping Roran’s broad, muscled back. The tie was discarded unceremoniously to the side and he once against felt Roran’s claws hook the collar of his shirt. The musky Tigris’ thrusts grew a little more intense. With each pump, those claws dragged down Alex’s shirt, tearing a gap down the collar and exposing the undershirt that Alex wore beneath. Roran smiled, his tongue hanging out with his heavy panting. His hot breath wafted down Alex’s cheeks. The lightest brush of warm air trailed how his attention followed the wolf’s corded neck down to the shelf of his pectorals, the mounds tipped by his nipples and finally down to the rippling abdominals that stuck out right beneath the undershirt.

Roran licked his lips and his paw rolled over the thick rack of muscles like he was worshiping them. The mighty, red Wulfun squirmed beneath the grasp, almost pleading the tiger to let hurry up and get to the main event. His dick was being constricted by his pants and the oh-so-close-yet-so-far touch of Roran’s member was a siren’s call. His cock constantly leaked precum in a desperate attempt to melt the fabric of his slacks to be free.

Those roving tiger paws peeled away from Alex for a moment and the muscled feline straightened. Their lips parted with a whimper from Alex but that noise quickly turned into a loud gulp as Roran reached for the buttons of his own collared shirt. Like watching a present being unwrapped, Roran peeled off the tight, sweaty fabric from his body. A wave of heady musk launched straight at Alex, calling to the wolf. With surprising flexibility, Alex sat up and buried his muzzle right between Roran’s exposed pectorals. Like a starving dog his tongue automatically snaked out, tasting the tiger’s salty skin.

Roran had a cute, light, brown fuzz on his chest that formed the faintest of treasure trails down towards his bushy crotch. It contrasted well against the softer, white fur that dominated his torso. Alex followed the grain of those hairs towards the tiger’s meaty arms, tracing the hard edges of his deltoids until he was mired in a network of throbbing veins over the tiger’s biceps. The strong odour coming from the thick forest of brown fur right beneath that meaty arm drew him in. Roran’s other paw wrapped around the back of his head, gently clinging to his own, well-styled brown hair and pushing him into the musky armpits.

Alex’s eyes fluttered beneath his eyelids as he sunk into the heady scent. His hips bucked involuntarily, rubbing their cocks together as he lapped at the thick hairs there, getting the strong salty taste of sweat. The warmth radiating from the armpit and surrounding muscles just screamed ‘Alpha Male’. Mixed with the complex scent of the tiger, it was an assault on most of his senses that drove him wild.

Still gripping the back of the Wulfun’s head, Roran pulled Alex’s muzzle away from his armpit and guided it towards his own muzzle. The savage kiss brought out moans from both men. Alex could feel the feline’s barbed dick throb mightily as the concept of tasting his own musk on the wolf’s tongue. Gravity and their own uncontrollable desires to be one threw them back against the cold, red-tiled floors of the greenhouse.

The passionate kissing was broken shortly by Roran who began to shuffle forward.

“You’re going to suck my dick,” he growled, pawing at his own crotch.

Alex cocked his eyebrows suggestively. “Getting it ready for some more fun?”

Roran gripped his face with both paws and pulled him into another, brief kiss. He left their noses touching. “Maybe if you’re as good as I think you are. Right now I am meant to be a bodyguard.”

“I’ve always wanted to be fucked by a bodyguard.”

Not saying it’s never happened before. Just that it’s always been a turn-on of mine.

Roran grinned savagely as he let his own member loose, the 10-inch member looming over Alex like a massive pointed spire.

The broad-shouldered tiger shuffled forward, his thick thighs following the V-shaped of Alex’s torso until the tip of his throbbing dick was hovering tantalisingly within distance of the hungry Wulfun’s muzzle. A strong, intoxicating smell emanated from the thick bush of brown crotch fur. It smacked of a man who was not afraid of his sexuality and who didn’t mind that his dick had a slight curve to the left. The pointed tip was producing precum like a professional, an open faucet of seminal fluids. The barbed flesh was in no way intimidating and Alex eagerly wrapped his muzzle around what was immediately in range.

A soft purring came from Roran. The tiger wrapped his big, meaty paws around the back of Alex’s head, pulling him closer to the base of that thick, meaty member. The tiger tasted of pent up desire and smelled of primal need. The cock in Alex’s muzzle throbbed with each, gentle thrust and as he traced the lines the bulbous veins made along its length. Experienced in the art of cock-sucking, Alex easily supressed his gag reflex and buried his nose into the thick, brown bush at the base of the tiger’s dick. His tongue snaked out between his lips, sliding along the tip of Roran’s sheath and brushing against those white-furred balls. If Roran was impressed by the sheer length of the Wulfun’s tongue, he didn’t make mention of it save for a deeper, more lusting purring – almost growling.

Roran pulled his dick away while Alex formed a vacuum with his lips, making sure that every inch that he was forced away from that musky crotch was met with as much pleasurable resistance as possible. Even the barbs didn’t harm him. In fact, he quite enjoyed dancing his tongue between the little, fleshy spikes and feeling how Roran quivered at the touch which only resulted in thicker precum pouring into his muzzle.

Just as he reached the tip of the member, Roran’s grip seemed to loosen which allowed Alex to slowly dive back in, the force of their mutual sexual attraction pulling him once more towards Roran’s balls. The Tigris’ body temperature was rapidly rising and he could feel it through the feline’s cock. That heavy scent of sweat intensified and Roran even had to pull a paw away momentarily to wipe his brow free of the waterfall of salty liquid pouring over his eyes.

It became too much for Roran to restrain himself and keep his temperature down. He once again grabbed the back of Alex’s head and began thrusting rhythmically. His cock would throb, bouncing up against the roof of Alex’s muzzle, and he would pull back. A grunt would escape him, always louder than the first, and then he would thrust back in with a squirt of precum down Alex’s throat. Over and over again, the dance continued with increasing fervour until Alex could no longer take the pressure building in his own crotch.

He pulled fully away from Roran’s dick, letting out a gasp for air and a light smack of his lips.

“Need a break?” rumbled the tiger.

He gave the huge, muscled feline a smirk. “I need my pants off.”

That savage, coy grin returned that just made Alex flush with excitement. “Since you asked so nicely.”

The big tiger flung Alex around, pulling his wrists together and pinning them against the small of Alex’s back. Though far from the fantasy, the little bit of bondage made Alex’s cock ache. He was grateful when Roran reached to the front of his pants and undid his belt before pulling down the entire garment to reveal Alex’s ass.

“Ooooh,” cooed the Tigris. He grabbed the elastic band of Alex’s bright blue underwear. “You call this a jockstrap, don’t you?”

Alex found it rather endearing that Roran didn’t know what the garment was. It was common in the Upper Stations but clearly the Lower Stations had their own forms of underwear. “Athletic Supporter is the technical term.”

Roran let go of the band letting it slap against Alex’s flesh. The light impact sent a tingle up Alex’s spine. But so did the thick sausage of tiger meat that nestled between his butt cheeks.

Wow, the tiger strips fast.

With his dick already slick with the wolf’s saliva, Roran was able to easily press his member into Alex’s waiting hole. Two weeks without the touch of another man had left Alex both needy and tight so there was a bit of resistance and a slight pang of pain as the tiger’s steel-hard cock entered him. But the flashes of agony were washed away with burst of pleasure as inch after inch pushed into him.

Roran stopped at three inches in before pulling back out. Feeling those bards rub against his tight anal ring had Alex biting down on his own arm to hold down a moan. His cock was tenting his jockstrap and he cursed whoever invented these auto-fit athletic supporters. Being made with a special fabric, it would simply magically stretched and adjusted itself despite his desperate need to have his member free. Still, there was something arousing about rubbing his cock through the smooth, airy fabric even as Roran pushed back into him.

Five inches with the second, gentle thrust and Alex let out a lusty moan.

At seven inches, Alex could feel the tiger’s furry – and slightly wet – balls slap against his own.

Roran shoved himself entirely into Alex with the fourth thrust, all ten inches and Alex’s moan rang throughout the entire greenhouse. They both paused for a moment, ears perked and listening for any would-be investigators who would discover their act of depravity.

Only silence greeted them and that was all the sign Roran needed. The burly feline leaned forward, wrapping a thick, corded arm around Alex’s equally muscled torso for leverage. He used one paw to grip the Wulfun’s waist while Alex himself propped himself up on his thigh thighs and arms. Roran leaned down, giving Alex’s cheek the faintest of kisses. In turn, the panting wolf met the tiger’s lips.

Their lips still locked, Roran pulled out about halfway before thrusting back into Alex with more force than he had used during their entire session. Alex grunted, his cock twitching in his jockstrap. The tiger atop him pulled out once again and he squeezed his eyes shut in preparation from the battering ram that would follow. The force of the thrust was more intense than before and his cock again spasmed in joy. Again, Roran retreated and again he charged back in with greater force. The gaps between each thrust shortened and just as their moans grew longer and louder.

Both men quivered in their embrace of debauchery. The rest of the world, their duties and even the party occurring through a flimsy door all faded away. All that mattered was the sensual pleasure of their two, sweaty bodies intertwined with one another and the sensation of one virile male being inside another followed by the intimacy of having one man’s seed pass into another.

Expert tongue play on Alex’s part drove Roran wild and the tiger was simply left dumbstruck. His lips fell numb to the lusty wolf’s relentless assault. Unable to keep up with the oral sparring, Roran could only pull away from Alex’s muzzle and drive his fangs against the wold’s thick, meaty neck. Alex let out a soft howl as the mix of pleasure and pain rocked his body from both directions. As if sensing the wolf’s hunger for some portion of tiger meat inside of him, Roran curled his paw around Alex’s lower jaw. The proud General Solomon happily suckled on the thick fingers of the famous blacksmith, moaning like he was having the most delicious meal of his life.

The sensations continued to build the fiery desire inside both of them. Alex could feel Roran’s sweat mingling with his own fur, seeping through his coat and down into his flesh. Coupled with the constant spray of precum into him and the taste of the tiger on his tongue and he could feel the feline becoming one with him in this lust-driven intimate moment. Two powerful souls were too much for his one, mortal frame to contain and as Roran’s thrusting grew more and more passionate, Alex could not hold in his own essence anymore – he had to let some of it out or he would burst!

A staccato of gasps left his muzzle, muffled by Roran’s thick digits. His cock burst with his seed, his cum pouring out like a dam was breaking in his balls. His self-adjusting jockstrap tried to compensate for the sudden rush of seed, ballooning to obscene proportions, but it could do nothing to absorb the flood of seed. White, wolf cum pouring free from the edges, dripping down onto the floor and leaving Alex with nothing but the tiger mercilessly pounding his ass.

For the moment, Alex Clarke ceased to exist and he was just the fuck toy of Roran Northridge.

The great General Solomon, the Horizon Lord and Silver Sniper of The Dead Tails slumped to the ground, his arms collapsing from underneath him. Roran’s powerful grip on his waist kept his ass up in the air for the tiger to continue to abuse. It was all Alex could do to keep his eyes half-open, tongue slumping out in exhausting while the Tigris’ bite against his neck grew tighter and tighter.

Roran let out a muffled moan and slammed his cock into Alex one more time. The flood of cum that followed was like a soothing balm that worked its way through Alex’s system, seeping through his body and seemingly rushing into his balls only to be ejected back out because his cock let out a second stream of seed that his battered jockstrap could only let out miserably.

Strength left both men and the slumped onto the ground. Roran managed to roll them onto their sides so that the tiger would not crush the Wulfun beneath him. Alex moaned softly when those strong, striped arms wrapped around him comfortingly. Roran’s rough tongue ran across the bite marks across Alex’s neck which caused some discomfort and a small whimper. The Tigris stopped and instead kissed the General’s cheek.

Alex wasn’t exactly sure how long he lay there with Roran wrapped around him but the next thing he knew, there was a loud…

BOOM!

The Wulfun’s blue eyes snapped open and he was assaulted by that irritating sensation of having just woken up but never realising he had fallen asleep.

“Shit!” he cursed. He attempted to get up but felt Roran’s still-hard dick spearing him from the inside. Roran snorted awake, caught halfway through a rumbling snore.

“Wha…?” mumbled the Tigris. “What’s going on?”

He heard another crashing noise followed by a few screams.

Alex checked the watch wrapped around his wrist. The flat, square display showed several messages from both JD and Rayne.

“Commencing operation,” wrote his son.

“Landed successfully,” added Rayne. “Weapons distributed. Devil Team is on our way to the jammer.”

“Angel Team making our way to the kitchens. Lots of Fuocotan in the area.”

“Spirit Team, you there?”

“Dad?”

That was all from about half an hour ago.

“Crap, crap, crap,” Alex stuttered. He unceremoniously pulled himself off Roran, bringing a moan from the Tigris but causing him some pain. He searched for his pants and hurriedly shoved them on even though his jockstrap still dripped with his seed. “Spirit Team here,” he quickly spoke into his watch. “What’s the situation?”

“About that, Spirit,” Rayne responded. “We’ve dealt with the jammer. Do you have the target?”

“Not yet. Working on it.”

“Dad, were you fucking Roran Northridge?”

Suddenly, there was a third entry from someone his watch could not identify.

“What the fuck!? Your dad had sex with the Roran Northridge!?”

“Jealous, Wood?” taunted his son. Bladebreaker must have shouted very loudly for JD’s earpiece to pick up his voice. “And my dad works fast.”

Alex felt his cheeks burn. “No, JD. I didn’t fuck Roran.”

Roran gave him a quizzical look and he waved the Tigris down while he got dressed. Remembering that in their passion, Roran had shredded his clothes, he realised that there would be no way for him to hide his sins. Though he could cast an illusion if he wanted, his son would be wise to his deception and Skye would likely detect the magic too. So it was best to come clean – or at least as clean as he could.

“Roran fucked me.”

“Of course he did.” He could actually hear his son’s sigh through his watch. “For what it’s worth, my mission isn’t going so well either.”

Alex mentally sighed. Here comes the piece of black humour that makes light of the fact that he’s actually doing something horrifying…

“My soufflé turned out flat. Maybe I should use less human brains next time and more eyeball juices. Doesn’t help that these guys have mostly cybernetic eyes so I didn’t quite get as much aqueus humour as the recipe called for.”

“What kind of recipe calls for human brains and eyeball juices?”

Alex jumped at Roran’s voice. The Tigris was standing behind him, peering over his shoulder while slipping on his shirt.

“That’s…” Alex began. He shook his head. “Look, that was fun and all but I’ve got to go.” Hiking a thumb over his shoulder, he said, “You stay here. Konseral is in danger.”

“Konseral?” The tiger’s bushy eyebrows furrowed. “If he’s in trouble then I need to help. I am his bodyguard after all.”

Alex threw on his torn shirt and quickly redid his belt. There was no arguing with Roran on this one. The man was a veteran of one of the major battles on Incendius. His assistance would be invaluable especially if he knew Konseral enough to be his bodyguard. Many of the other Generals needed bodyguards to protect their person even if they were anonymous to the public. These bodyguards had to know them intimately because it was only possible to truly protect someone if you knew them.

Goddess what I wouldn’t give to have a man like Roran know me intimately.

But Alex had always rejected the idea of a bodyguard and had always relied on his Illusionist skills. That or his son. To him, a big, burly man who would throw himself at him if he were ever in danger was the ultimate temptation.

“That’s fine,” Alex grunted. He grimaced slightly at the loud, wet squishing noise that came from his ass. Roran was definitely a ‘producer’. “Just stick close and don’t go maverick on me.” He rolled his broad, sweaty shoulders and stormed towards the greenhouse doors. “My specialty is in illusions. My illusions are mostly convincing but if you do something really ridiculous, it becomes hard to convince people that it didn’t happen and to maintain cover.”

“Sounds fair. If we’re sharing…” Roran lifted a paw into the air right in front of him. A burst of flame erupted from between his fingers, shotting out horizontally. The flames solidified and reformed into a sharp, curved short bow with stylised ridges to look like bright, red feathers. Along the length of one of the lower limb was what appeared to be a short sword built along the same style likely for use in melee combat. “You know I’m a blacksmith. Took up the art after the Burning Rebellion and after I did some travelling. But I’m still decent in a fight.”

With those thick, meaty arms I can imagine you’d come out on top more often than not.

“I’m a decent Pyromancer, too,” Roran added. “Little bit of Ferromancy in there as well from being a blacksmith.” He tapped the bow with his spare paw. “I have a customised spell to recreate this little baby.”

Alex lifted an eyebrow in surprise. “Wait… You mean you’re not summoning that weapon? You just created it there and then?”

The Tigris’ nutty brown eyes regarded him curiously. “Yeah. Why? Is that so strange?”

It’s damn magically expensive! How can you fuck me like a stallion and still manage to create that thing out of thin air without withering and dying!?

Better question: what would it be like if you put all that energy and all your excess into ploughing me?

Alex shook his head, desperately trying to get it out of gutter. “No. It’s just something that you don’t see very often.” He turned toward the door, pressing his ear against it to check for anyone on the other side. So far, there was silence.

“Honesty time,” he muttered softly, indicating to Roran to stay similarly silent. The big Tigris crouched down slightly, reducing his profile while also causing his huge thighs to bulge out. “I’m part of the military. We fully expected that Konseral would be attacked again by the Fuocotan. If not tonight then soon. We planned a contingency. We’ve got three teams running through the manor right now.”

“Devil, Angel and Spirit?” Roran asked.

He reads fast.

“Yeah. Devil is led by my good friend, Rayne. He’s going after the jammer that’s likely cutting us off from outside communication. Angel is led by my son. The kid that saved Konseral previously.”

“And you’re Spirit? Where’s the rest of your team?”

Alex threw a smirk over his shoulder at the blacksmith. “I don’t need one.” He flicked an ear towards him. “Stay low and stay close. No matter what happens, no matter how close the assassins get to us, do not do anything that would compromise your position.”

Roran gave him a firm nod in understanding. He quickly opened the door leading back into the hallways of the Bladebreaker entertainment manor. There were two members of the Fuocotan just a short distance down the hallway and the immediately registered the opening door. Without uttering a word of the Illuminus Weizar, Alex cast an illusion. To the Fuocotan, they saw two servants emerging from the greenhouse and freezing right in front of them. To him and Roran, there was a ghostly apparition, a vague white outline of the two Vulpinuses rushing away from the assassins in fear.

As expected, the Fuocotan rushed after them. Alex took note that these two were men. From what he recalled from the dossiers, the Fuocotan may be the most progressive of the three splinter factions of the Blind Sisters but they were still a staunch matriarchy. Women took up leaderships roles and men – while admitted into their ranks – rarely rose up further than celebrated assassins on the field. They never went up to lead deployments and were often used as cannon fodder.

They all have the same kind of equipment. Vibroblades for short ranged combat and crossbows for long-ranged. Their cybernetics may vary from person to person but they will all have one artificial eye that they use to communicate with one another.

He smirked a little to himself.

Good thing those eyes can’t protect them from illusions.

Alex gestured for Roran to follow and they both quietly headed out of the greenhouse as the Fuocotan dashed past after the illusions.

“Where are we going?” Roran whispered.

“Back to the Ballroom and Konseral. We extract him and bring him to the roof. I’ve got an extraction ship waiting for us up there. Once he’s out, Angel and Devil will spring the trap.”

Roran grunted softly as they approached the Solar. Many of the Fuocotan were gathered there. The drunken partygoers lay were kneeling or restrained in some way with the assassins looming over them.

They don’t want to kill anyone else than necessary. They know that everyone here has very powerful connections and they could potentially lose business or have people come after them if the hurt any bystanders.

I can use that to my advantage.

Roran tapped his shoulder and he glanced critically at the Tigris. “What?” he hissed angrily.

The tiger looked quite cute when trying to apologise. “I was just going to say we may want to act fast. Sylana isn’t the kind of girl to take anything like this lightly.”

His heart started creeping up to his throat. “What do you mean by that exactly?”

BOOM!

The wall that would’ve separated the Solar and the Ballroom abruptly shattered. One of the Fuocotan came flying out, crashing to the ground with his head bloodied but still barely conscious. The Racoorian that had been present with Konseral cracked her knuckles ominously, her Rune Rings jingling around her wrists.

“So what was that about taking out the trash?” she said savagely.

Oh crap…

Alex quickly brought his watch to his muzzle. “Guys, we’ve got a problem. Konseral’s other bodyguard is up and running. She’s provoking the Fuocotan.”

“Don’t worry, Dad.”

One of the Fuocotan suddenly erupted in a burst of smoke from behind Sylana, hand outstretched ready to grab her from the behind and with his other hand clutching a Vibroblade. She was oblivious to the move as she continues to glare haughtily at the stunned assassins in front of her.

“I got it,” JD finished.

Suddenly, there was a flash of red lightning and the Fuocotan attacking Sylana from behind crashed to the ground. She jolted in surprise and spun around. There was suddenly a red Wulfun lying atop the would-be assassin casually with five fingers in his paws. Those very same fingers were missing from the Fuocotan beneath him.

JD gave her a pleasant, seemingly innocent smile. “You know, I’ve heard that the finger foods served in these kinds of parties are really pretty delicious. I didn’t think they’d serve actual fingers though. My verdict?”

He tossed one into his muzzle to the horror and disgust of everyone in sight. Roran’s jaw dropped in horror while all the Fuocotan widened their eyes to the point where their eyes could have popped out of their skulls. Sylana flinched away showing the first signs of femininity since Alex had first met her. Even poor Gloria Bladebreaker and Konseral looked about ready to throw up.

But to Alex, he knew what this was and grinned.

“Here we go.”

JD caught the finger at the edges of his teeth just before it plummeted down his throat.

“They’re to die for.”

Metus Daemonium (Rayne)

A Good Teacher

The moment they had split up from the roof, Rayne knew how the events of the night would go. A plan, no matter how well thought out, would always go south the moment it was put into motion. It didn’t help that his plan involved three mostly-untried combatants at a high school level. He hated involving Buster, Irina and Natalia but JD had been right.

“Of all my classmates, they’re the most likely to actually do something in a crisis,” he recalled the Red Lightning telling him back when they were hatching the plan. “Natalia is creative and ambitious and though she may have reservations about fighting, that makes her least likely to intentionally kill someone and be negatively impacted by this. Buster is a bit of a meddler and he will eagerly go along with the plan because he wants to get involved. Stephen is always shadowing Wood and Buster so if they’re in, he’ll follow too. Clive takes Diatollian honour very seriously and he would be ‘shamed’ if he just sat there helplessly and everyone else moved. Yvette is too conscious about her own popularity to be thrown into the role of a damsel in distress again especially if I’m the one acting. Shaun’s cheeriness is equal to Buster’s and he’ll be willing to join in because he’s eager for new experiences.”

“What about Irina?” Rayne recalled arguing. “Why her?”

He recalled JD never once pausing in his analysis. Though he may not seem like it, the Red Lightning was incredibly observant; it was a key skill that Rayne had trained into him for an assassin needed to know a target’s weaknesses before he could fully execute them.

“Irina may appear timid but she has a very tactical mind. I’ve seen her act in the most logical way possible even in a crisis during training. Her shrewd, tactician’s mind doesn’t let fear paralyse her. If she recognises that acting is more fruitful than not, then she’ll be willing to fight.”

Though he hated to admit it, JD’s assessment of Irina Langley was correct. In times of dire need, she would excel but in controlled situation such as the classroom, she would often fall short. One half of the teacher in him completely abhorred the idea of putting his students in danger but the other half knew that each of these kids would become stronger for the experience.

Though I wonder what kind of strength they’ll draw from it.

He led the party in a quick dash through the hallways. Buster was at the very front, ever the point-man. Natalia, despite her girth and extra weight, was right behind him. Irina came after and Rayne brought up the rear. They were on the second floor and had to avoid the first where the Fuocotan were thickest. He had to wonder what they had planned now that they had Konseral.

BOOM!

They all ground to a halt.

“What was that?” Buster exclaimed.

JD would never be that loud. Then again, he has Kira with him…

The summoner always had a problem with restraining herself. Rayne still remembered that horrible moment when she unleashed an attack at JD as the poor Wulfun was innocently making his way to school. He was glad the Red Lightning had chosen to save those kids instead of keep himself anonymous.

“Nothing good,” Rayne answered gruffly. “Whatever it was, the Fuocotan will now be on high alert. Let’s hurry to the parking lot before they –”

There was a faint whooshing noise and he immediately recognised it as the sound the Fuocotan made when using one of their signature moves – Fumus Umbra. The original Blind Sisters had a means of teleporting great distances in a burst of smoke. The Fuocotan refined the technique by turning themselves into a shadowy silhouette of smoke that moved at lightning speed. They would reappear at the designated location in a burst of light fire and ash that would disorient their targets which left them an opening.

Or so it would be against normal people.

Whump!

The Fuocotan assassin froze, his eyes wide in shock. The yellow-edged vibroblade hovered just an inch away from Rayne’s throat. The teacher’s fingers were wrapped tightly around the man’s wrist. His students skidded to a halt and stared in awe.

“Take it from someone who’s constantly sparred with an assassin.” He grinned savagely at the bald man, his purple eyes flaring up. “You’re way too slow.”

He spun, a shockwave blasting outwards from the simple movement. His free fist collided with the assassin’s cheek. Bones crunched and teeth shattered in a broken jaw. Rayne could trace the moment when the look of surprise on the wide-eyed man’s eyes turned into terror and then pure pain. It was a fleeting instant but his heart jostled at the sight and his veins filled with a surreal energy that made the impact all the more devastating.

The Fuocotan novice was sent flying a full fifty feet away before being stopped by the hard walls with a thunderous smash. A crater appeared against the hard stone walls with cracks spraying outwards from the site of impact like a star made of lightning bolts. The man’s eyes were completely unfocused, unseeing and unconscious.

“Holy shit…” Buster breathed. “One blow…”

Natalia quaked in place. “And he caught the blade before it hit him.”

Irina hugged her staff to her body. “That’s unreal, Mr. Noam…”

Their fear was palpable.

Rayne flexed his fingers as he straightened. As tempting as it was to cultivate that fear, he had to think past this battle. That was something Alex had taught him.

“I’m a sniper,” Alex once said during the Fall. “I’ve got to think about what comes after my shot. I mean, if the target is surrounded by guards, what’ll they do, right? Goddess knows what’ll happen if I ever miss.”

He had to think about what he was going to go back to once this fight was over.

The raven-haired man rolled his shoulders. “I’m getting slow in my old age,” he grumbled, absently rubbing his neck. “That was way too close. Back in my heyday, I would’ve caught that blade before it got within half a foot of my neck.”

The looks of fear suddenly turned into ones of sheer admiration.

“Goddess, you’re so cool, Mr. Noam!” Irina fawned.

Underneath her black fur, Rayne could tell that Natalia was blushing. “So manly…” she whispered.

But Buster was not convinced. It wasn’t a sense of emasculation that the Bovios regarded him with a critical stare. While not as intense as a particular Wulfun’s laser-like glare, it was nonetheless filled with a sharp intelligence that belied the big bull’s jolly and naïve façade. It was something that JD had warned him about.

“Buster is incredibly observant. He’s also a meddler. Even give him the slightest hint of a secret and he’ll latch onto it until you’ve given him absolutely everything you’re worth.”

Rayne remembered giving JD a mischievous grin after that last observation. “Is that saying something about why he’s taking you out on a date?”

JD immediately became flustered. “Don’t make any assumptions!” roared the Red Lightning.

“Let’s get going,” Rayne insisted. “All that noise would’ve attracted more Fuocotan.” He stared directly at the unconscious assassin’s eyes. “And even though the owner may be unconscious, it doesn’t mean that those cybernetic eyes are offline.”

“Th – They can see us!?” Irina squealed.

“Most likely. They probably know where we are too. So let’s keep moving!”

The only way to get Buster off his scent was to give him something juicier to latch onto. Their personal safety was a very good candidate.

“What exactly is the plan here?” Buster demanded. “Shouldn’t we be heading downwards into the parking lot?”

Rayne glanced towards Irina with an encouraging smile. “Ms. Langley, would you mind taking this one?”

Irina glanced towards her feet for a brief moment. She already knew the answer but the hesitation came from her natural bashfulness. “The Fuocotan will likely have ambushes set up in the stairwells and all routes to the parking garage. With few entrances and exits, it would be easy to defend the area. So Mr. Noam is going to take us right above the garage and then smash our way downwards!”

Atta girl.

He skidded to a halt which brought the group to a full stop as well. “Which just happens to be right here.” He massaged his knuckles, an ominous crackling emerging from them. “Brace yourselves, kids.”

“W – Wait! Can we discuss this!?” stammered Buster.

Loud shouting came from behind them and Rayne glanced over his shoulder. Fuocotan were scrambling around the corner. Right ahead of them, several more were emerging.

“No time!”

A dark purple aura quickly flared up around his hand as he pulled it back into a fist, and prepared a move that his students had seen many times before in class. One which they had grown to fear.

“Demon…” he growled.

Irina quickly spun in place. “Nat! Web Pills! Now!”

Natalia blinked a twice and quickly reached for one of the pill canisters around her bandolier. She popped a small, white pill into her muzzle and her cheeks blew out comically. The Fuocotan were acting just as quickly and slipped up behind her, emerging from their shadowy forms with savage grins on their faces.

Rayne didn’t have time to hesitate.

“… Fist!”

He slammed his fist right into the marbled floor. All the purple energies wreathing his fists shot straight into the ground, shattering the floor instantaneously. There was enough power to plough right through the first floor and right into the parking garage right underneath. Gravity took hold of them a second later and they plummeted towards the gaping hole. The Fuocotan swiped their blades through the air, just barely missing them.

Natalia flailed for a second before turning to face downwards. She blew out the contents of her cheeks, shooting out a thick, white substance that immediately stuck to any surfaces that it attached to. She splattered the webbing across hole leading to the parking garage but without covering the entire hole. Rayne bounced off the web, easily tucking himself into a roll and sliding off into the garage itself. He landed in a crouch.

There was a familiar stench in the air.

The stench of fear.

Buster landed with a loud whump beside him with Natalia and Irina following suit. Though they were just kids, his training had instilled into them a high level of physical prowess and combat readiness that would’ve made the prior generation envious.

Dust momentarily clouded his vision but he didn’t need to see to know where the Fuocotan were. He could smell them; smell their fear. It was fleeting, though. Fear derived of surprise and perhaps effected slightly by prior nervousness about some unexpected outcome. He wasn’t sure exactly what that outcome was, however. All he could tell was that something else wasn’t going as planned and this sudden surprise had caused their hearts to skip a beat. Enough to give him an opening… and to invigorate him.

Their fear seeped into him, funnelling through his body and pumping through his veins. He pushed that strength into his legs, a dark purple aura wreathing his calves and feet.

“Buster,” he growled. “I’ll take care of the guys in front of us. Defend both Irina and Natalia from the bastards coming down from above.”

Buster grunted and spun around, swinging Broadside through the air and clearing some of the dust from around them. “Right!”

Rayne rocketed forward, propelled by inhuman speed and strength towards the jammer. Even before the dust fully cleared, he was upon the first of the Fuocotan. The man never saw the knee that came crashing against his face until he actually felt it. The assassin was launched right into a car, smashing through the reinforced windshield and slamming into the driver’s seat, barely conscious. With blood rushing down his face, the bald assassin slumped against the steering wheel weakly –

BOOF!

Only for the very primitive airbags to explode outwards and collide with his face, knocking him out for good.

“Huh,” Rayne grunted with a grin. “Old model. Most hovercars and vehicles these days have suspension bubbles or anti-gravity fields.” He took a page right out of JD’s book and treated the moment very casually. The effect was instantaneous. The five remaining Fuocotan around him had a moment where they questioned what was going on before the floodgates of fear opened wide.

“Wh – What’s going on!?” stammered the assassin to his right.

Rayne turned to him, his purple eyes burning brightly and a trail of light training through the air with his movements. He was instantly upon the man, seizing his head and back and smashing his knee up against his foe’s bent form.

Blow to the solar plexus. Should be down for the fight. But just to make sure…

He let the winded assassin topple to the ground. That made it easier for him to seize the bald head – which admittedly would’ve been easier if the guy had some hair – and hurl the stunned man right into another. Both were sent crashing into another car where their contorted bodies made a sizeable dent on the hood.

The fear around him mounted and he devoured it all. The ferocious blows would’ve drained any normal fighter. But he was far from normal and the rush of terror from his opponents only made him stronger. Fear, though, was a double-edged sword. Mortals were driven by their fight-or-flight instincts. There would be a moment when they were alert, fearful and when their bodies would decide whether they should sit and draw their blades or turn and run.

The novice to his right, the one at the back of the group was the one that was closest to overcoming his fear and lifting that wrist-mounted crossbow. Rayne swerved past the others, weaving around the wires of the bulky jamming tower that stood about as tall as he was that sat between them. He closed the gap between himself and the man – a human no older than about twenty years of age – in a matter of seconds. They were almost nose to nose for a moment and he drew strength from that instant when the Fuocotan’s cannon fodder glared right into his eyes and realised he was about to suffer a lot of pain.

Rayne seized the back of the boy’s head and smashed their foreheads together. The impact was minimal to him but to the would-be-assassin, it was an instant knockout. Though he hated to get rid of a prime source of fear in such a heated battle, his priority was to eliminate as many targets as possible.

His speed gave him a few more seconds of fear from the four remaining Fuocotan and he quickly used that. He quickly crouched and snapped his leg out backwards, striking the knee of the assassin beside him from behind. As the man toppled, he also seized one of the thick mechanical tubes feeding power into the jammer. With one powerful, one-handed yank, he pulled it free of the machine and tossed it in the direction of the remaining three assassins. Again, there was a flash of fear but it was fading quickly as they moved to defend themselves.

They’re recovering. Have to act fast!

Rayne quickly leapt to his feet and snapped another wire from the machine. With one, swift move, he slammed it into the chest of the assassin he had down. A blood-curdling scream cut through the air as the man was hit with a massive blast of electricity that sent his body into a spasm. Rayne quickly pulled the wire free before he completely cooked the man and left him twitching on the ground.

Fear filled the air again.

But this time, it wasn’t just coming from the Fuocotan.

Too late he realised his mistake. His move may have sparked more fear in the Fuocotan around him but it had also distracted his team. They feared he had been the one to scream and had turned their heads – turning their back to assassins.

Shit!

“Look out kids!” he screamed.

Buster – who was the forefront of the attacking Fuocotan – realised his mistake and turned back to the charging assassins. A black shadow swept past him and acrid ash blew right into his face. Fear erupted from his direction. Rayne knew he couldn’t get there in time despite all his speed.

Then there was a spark of desperation from behind Buster.

“Speculo Capulum!”

A sound like chiming crystals sprang through the air Buster froze in place. The vibroblade was just biting into his cheek but the arm and body that it was attached to was completely frozen in a form-hugging layer of glass. The Fuocotan gawked in shock as he was completely immobilised.

Irina fell to her knees, gasping.

Go Irina!

It was a lucky thing that he was dealing with novices because even the Fuoctan attacking Buster and his group stared at the sudden attack. “Stop gawking, Wilde, and fight!”

Buster shook himself free of his surprise and pulled away from the Fuocotan. He smashed an elbow right into the assassin’s face. The glass shattered from the force and drove sharp shards right into the bald human’s features. If the powerful blow from the bovine Physiomancer wasn’t enough to knock him out, the sheer pain of the shards digging into his eyes rendered him incapable of fighting.

Rayne pulled his mind back to the present and turned towards the remaining three Fuocotan. They had gathered their wits and were now surrounding the jammer, their vibroblades and crossbows at the ready.

They’ve deduced that I favour short-ranged combat. They’re ready to fire upon me at a moment’s notice.

Too bad they’ve got me pegged wrong.

He crouched down and arched his fingers on both of his hands. “Demon Claw!” he cried, raking both hands through the air upwards. Fast-moving scythes of dark purple energy launched upwards, hugging the ground like violet shark fins tearing through the ground. The assassins immediately scattered.

Their reflexes are good. But…

The move had been made as a distraction and even before they landed, Rayne was upon them once more. He grabbed the arm of one of the man, twisting it behind their back and then using all his weight to slam the man right into the ground. Lavender energies with a form like gas wrapped around his fist.

WHAM!

One punch and the man was instantly knocked unconscious, those dark energies seething from the impact side and nearly smothering the assassin.

“W – w – what are you!?”

Ah, there it is.

Pure, unfiltered fear. There was never anything like it. When someone fully and completely gave in to their fear, when there were no illusions of bravado or courage, when their legs had turned to jelly and then hardened again in paralysis, when their mind completely blanked out into nothingness… that kind of fear was simply…

“Delicious,” he hissed softly, licking his lips.

Both assassins suddenly went rigid. Rayne grasped both of their faces and lifted them into the air easily. In their fear, they could do nothing but quiver and shake. The one on his left even pissed himself. Those same dark purple energies seethed out of Rayne’s hands and rolled across the two men’s faces.

“There are two kinds of people who deal with fear.” He pulled the two men towards him so that their faces were right next to his and his lips were just inches from their ears. “Those who instil fear in others…” His tongue instinctively snaked out, licking their necks and tasting their fear-sweat. “… and those who confront their fears. Guess which one I am?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He smashed their heads together, leaving them to fall to the ground unconscious. It took a second to compose himself again and look back towards his students. His eyes lost that unearthly glow similar but not quite the same as JD’s fiery gaze and he quickly brushed aside all semblances of his true power from his body. Once he had ‘cleaned’ himself up, he looked to his students.

Buster had suffered a few scrapes and cuts but with Irina and Natalia backing him up, he was able to withstand the assault of the assassins. He was rather proud that even with Broadside’s immense blade, Buster hadn’t killed anyone. Natalia was panting heavily and Irina was quaking but judging by the number of assassins either trapped in crystal or wrapped up in sticky, white webbing, they fought well together.

Good job, kids. Really good job.

He strode over to the jammer. It was running at half power and still offering some protection. With a grunt, he slammed a fist right into the machine, bending metal and smashing through delicate circuitry and wiring. A distinct sound of the device powering down filled the garage. The stabiliser rings toppled to the ground as he pulled out some wires like it was the veins of the machine.

“There, that should do it,” he announced, catching his students’ attention again. He lifted his watch to his lips. “Devil Team here. We’ve successfully shutdown the jamming device. How is everyone going?”

JD was the first to respond. “Angel Team here. Ergh…” That sounded like the Wulfun was grunting. “Give me a second.”

A sound like a loud whacking noise came through the communicator. “Sorry about that. We’re just dealing with a stubborn stain.”

“Wood?” offered Buster, approaching.

“Hey!” came Wood’s very loud protest. He must’ve been yelling loudly to be picked up by the communicator.

“No but I like your thinking, Buster,” JD responded. “I still haven’t heard from my dad. Spirit Team, you there?”

Rayne wasn’t worried. Alex was an expert with illusions. A group of novice assassins would never be able to get him. “Alex, you there?” he asked. “Tap once if you’re in trouble and need us to come help you.”

No response.

“Dad?” JD prompted.

“Spirit Team here. What’s the situation?”

Rayne inclined his head to the side while looking at the others in confusion. They all sensed the strangeness of Alex’s abrupt response and request for a situation update.

“About that, Spirit,” he responded. “We’ve dealt with the jammer. Do you have the target?”

“Not yet. Working on it.”

“Dad, were you fucking Roran Northridge?”

Everyone instantly went rigid like they had all been struck by lightning – Red Lightning to be exact. Rayne immediately covered his communicator only to realise there was really no point trying to censor Alex’s debauchery to high school kids. The teacher in him was still utterly mortified by the act though.

“What the fuck!? Your dad had sex with the Roran Northridge!?” Wood exclaimed through the communicator.

“Jealous, Wood? And my dad works fast.”

“Mother Goddess…” Buster whispered. “We met Northridge… what? An hour – an hour-and-a-half ago? Damn, that wolf’s got game.”

“I’m more surprised by the fact that he could get it up during a fight,” Natalie admitted.

“You… You don’t think they did it on top of a pile of corpses, do you?” suggested Irina. Everyone gave her a horrified stare. “What? JD danced in the nacho-filled entrails of another assassin. Is it really that impossible to think that his father wouldn’t defile the corpses of his enemies by making sweet, tender love on top of them?”

Rayne found himself sinking a little into shame for calling Alex his friend. While he knew his friend would never go to such levels, he was embarrassed that Alex’s hormones would give such an impression to his students.

“No, JD. I didn’t fuck Roran.”

Oh thank the Mother Goddess.

He perked up slightly. “Maybe he was just busy with –”

“Roran fucked me.”

Aaaaand there goes my theory.

Buster got a strange expression on his face and Rayne could immediately see where his mind was going. “Oh… that’s hot,” rumbled the big, black bovine.

Natalia made a sour expression. “I hope JD isn’t like that when he grows up.”

“I honestly wouldn’t mind,” snickered the bull.

“Please don’t make any ‘ass-assin’ jokes,” Irina warned.

From the other side of the line, JD sighed loudly. “Of course he did. For what it’s worth, my mission isn’t going so well either.”

Whatever the Buster was thinking immediately snapped back to reality and the gravity of the situation. Worry crossed his features and both Irina and Natalia were regarding Rayne’s watch intently. Though Rayne wasn’t too worried about the younger Clarke, he still saw the Red Lightning as his student so he couldn’t help but be a little concerned.

“My soufflé turned out flat. Maybe I should use less human brains next time and more eyeball juices. Doesn’t help that these guys have mostly cybernetic eyes so I didn’t quite get as much aqueus humour as the recipe called for.”

There was a moment where those words sunk in.

Everyone on Devil Team immediately dropped their head and said in unison, “They’re exactly alike.”

I really should’ve expected that.

Rayne lifted his watch back towards his lips. “Right well Devil Team is heading back to the Ballroom. Angel Team, let us know when you’re done. Spirit Team, I do not want to know when you’re done.”

Calibre Grade (Wood)

No Escape

Something had been bothering Wood as he raced back down into the depths of his own mansion. It wasn’t just the fact that he was struggling to remember the layout of his own property. He didn’t normally venture up to the higher levels of the entertainment manor during parties. Normally he would just linger near the first and second floors where the crowds stayed. It had to do with how the Fuocotan had easily infiltrated his home.

He suddenly ground to a halt, his dress shoes feeling so uncomfortable against his big, clawed feet. JD immediately noticed – of course he did – and stopped. Skye did the same but Kira took a few more steps before turning in concern.

“Not to be insensitive or anything but please tell me you aren’t about to have an existential crisis,” the Red Lightning said bluntly. “Because if you’re going to lament about your current situation, let’s please go into one of the rooms and hug it out there instead of standing out in the open. I’d hate for any poignant moments we share can be cut brutally short by a surprise attack from some assassins because we weren’t paying attention and letting our hearts bleed.”

The burly Green Draconis shook his head. “Nothing like that. I’m just…” He lifted his gaze to meet JD’s. “My mom set up this gala about a month ago. We didn’t even know Konseral was going to be at Pinnacle until the day of the attack.”

“Your point?” Kira asked impatiently. She was tapping her foot against the marble. Along the way, she had summoned some better clothes for combat onto herself. The flashy dress was gone and she was wearing that skin-tight, breathable cloth once more and leather boots. The cape remained the same, however.

“My point is that we didn’t hire any new staff for this. At least not for the past month. It’d be too much trouble to find the right people, train them up and go through the entire hiring process them for something like this for just one event.” Wood crossed his meaty arms, his carefully crafted blonde eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t know why… but that just doesn’t sit well with me.”

Skye snapped his fingers, the shine of understanding flashing through his green eyes. Even when they were younger, the Tigris would understand his vague rambling about some designs for weapons he would concoct with the minimal information. “I understand. How would the Fuocotan have infiltrated Wood’s staff for this event if they weren’t already planning to do so at least a month ago? They must’ve planned this well in advance.”

“Or perhaps Lord Bladebreaker’s security measures just are not as keen as he would like us to believe,” scoffed Kira. She always spoke with her nose upturned to them all and this was no difference. Wood had to fight not to punch her there and then.

But Skye is right.

Why would the Fuocotan infiltrate his staff a month in advance? Didn’t they have faith in their own members kidnapping Konseral on the assault against Pinnacle? Contingency plans were a good thing but the way they were approaching this job was different from the last. This time they seemed to be out for blood and weren’t considering the collateral damage. When they raided Pinnacle, they were very explicit in their warnings to the students.

“It’s because Konseral hired them.”

Wood locked gazes with JD in surprise – big mistake. The Red Lightning’s eyes were ‘on’. Laser-like intensity at its fullest. He was paralysed from head to toe and was forced to listen to every word that the Wulfun said.

“What?” Skye asked.

“Think about it,” said JD. “Why hire an assassination guild to kidnap a charity leader? Why set up a raid months in advance against the same person?” He shook his head, thankfully giving Wood a reprieve from that paralysing stare. “It doesn’t add up. My theory is that Konseral hired the hit on himself. He called himself to be kidnapped in the first instance and to be attacked the second instance knowing full well that he can prepare himself. That’s why he brought along Roran and Sylana to protect him.”

“Again with this theory,” Kira lamented, throwing her hands into the air. “You have no proof, Clarke-sama. No motive.”

JD lowered his head, his fists shaking. “It’s a plausible theory. Konseral fully expected to be rescued in the raid against Pinnacle. Maybe not by me but he knew he’d get rescued. He even pulled back the Fuocotan’s assets by ensuring only novices and a single fully-fledged member participated in the attack. This second attempt is one is likely one where he wanted to send a message to the Fuocotan. To clean up and get them to back off. He cornered them into using the resources that he forced them to use. Coming from someone with experience on assassination attempts, half a week is barely enough time to arrange for a hit.”

Kira shook her head angrily. “But you still have no proof or motive. Why would Konseral-san even try this? What has he to gain from the attempt?”

JD lowered his gaze. “I can’t say.”

“Exactly. So let us stop this pointless discussion and move!”

Goddess, what a bitch!

Wood smiled towards the Red Lightning however and clapped his shoulder as he passed. “Thanks for sticking up for me. Appreciate it.”

JD gave him a slight smile in return. “Hey, it’s your mansion that’s getting hit here. Your reputation and stocks are in just as much turmoil as Konseral’s safetly.”

He gave the wolf a bashful grin as they continued down the hall. “Actually, my mom doesn’t have a lot of liquid assets or debts. She doesn’t like the idea of exporting or loaning money to the point where it far exceeds her physical wealth. Every opportunity she gets, she converts any money she has into something that can be stocked and stored that’ll always be in use.”

“Gold?”

“Actually, things like water, food and base metals that would always be in use. It’s gotten to the point that even if we were to lose all our money, we’d still be able to survive if we just put the work in.” He grinned sheepishly and scratched his cheek with a claw. “We actually own this mote. Banks can’t repossess it as collateral or anything and we’ve got farms out back that we can use to feed ourselves if it ever comes to that.”

JD gave him a stunned stare. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No.” Wood lowered his gaze, a distant smile on his face. “My mom may be a weapons manufacturer but she hates the idea of war. It’s just that making weapons is something she’s always been good at. After the Fall of Haven, she came to realise just how bad things would be in a prolonged conflict. Markets basically freeze and all the money in the world wouldn’t be able to buy you safety. So she bought the mote, built all the agriculture and necessities to keep our mote a self-sustaining base for generations and made sure that if Haven ever falls into another conflict, the Bladebreakers wouldn’t have to worry about all their money being worthless because we’d have the physical assets that’d back us up.”

“That’s pretty clever. Your mom really is amazing.”

Kira led the team to a corner where she peered around the corner. Judging by her tense shoulders, she was constantly on alert though there was no one nearby. JD and Wood strode over calmly.

“She really is,” answered the brawny, blonde Draconis. “Her caution kind of dropped our company down the Prime Prosperity list since the stuff my mom buys with our wealth effectively drops off the market for trading but I’m pretty sure we’d survive the apocalypse.”

The Prime Prosperity list was a list of the top thousand corporations that traded all across Tower Thirteen. Originally, the list was only open to the first 500 corporations but with the General’s rule and their push for technological and societal equality across all Stations, the list broadened to 1000 as other businesses rose up in the many of the Lower Stations which were traditionally less open to the global markets. It was a heavy blow that Connors Manufacturing dropped off the list but Wood liked to believe they were far more stable than any other corporation that was at the whimsy of the stock market and investor confidence.

“Good to hear your business will keep running even after all this,” JD said. “I’d hate for you or your mom to suffer because I provoked the Fuocotan.”

“You didn’t provoke them. Like we discussed, they were planning this for a month.”

The athletic, red wolf’s blue eyes narrowed and his lips tightened. “Maybe but I’m guessing they could have easily passed this event off without any actions if they had actually captured Konseral that day. Even if their target escaped, they could’ve used this time to scout out his defences instead of going on a full-on assault.” A soft growl rose from the Wulfun’s throat. “Honestly, this attack smacks of desperation.”

“What do you mean?”

Kira held up her hand and they both fell silent. She held up three fingers indicating the presence of three of the Fuocotan. Wood glanced around the hallway and caught the reflection of those three members against one of the windows. They were patrolling, approaching their corner rapidly.

“We can’t get caught,” Skye whispered softly. “With their cybernetics, if they detect us, they’ll alert the rest of them and immediately know where we’re going!”

BOOM!

The sudden explosion was enough to shake the ground. The Fuocotan immediately went rigid and bolted back down their hallway leaving the group to breathe a sigh of relief.

“What was that?” Wood asked.

“Rayne making his entrance of the parking garage?” Kira suggested, looking directly at JD.

The Red Lightning shook his head while pointing upwards. “No. Rayne is meant to make his entrance from the second floor. There would’ve been a second boom. That’s something else.”

Kira’s dark eyes switched in the vague direction of the sound. “Whatever it is, we cannot spend any more time wondering about it. Let’s let to our target.”

Man, she is all business isn’t she? Unless, of course, she’s trying to kill JD.

With Kira in the lead, the party made their way to one of the service elevators. From memory, it ran all the way up and down the entire mansion. When they were furnishing the place, it was one of the ways they got the equipment from one floor to the other. Admittedly, the upper floors were predominantly used for storage and temporary housing for the hired workers who couldn’t make the commute to and from the mote each day.

Kira pressed the call button and turned towards them. “Alright, once we enter the parking garage, we –” She balked, her eyes wide in terror.

Wood immediately spun around. There was nothing behind him. “What? What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“Where’s Clarke-sama?”

There was nothing behind him. Not even JD.

“Oh…” he mumbled.

Kira let out a growl of frustration and threw her hands up into the air. “So much for the spirit of cooperation.” She spun back towards the elevator, cheeks flush with fury. “Never mind him. Just remember that when we reach the loading dock, we will be right in the line of fire. They will have plenty of warning of our arrival and we will be at a disadvantage. Do not hesitate. Just throw everything out have at them.”

“Yes ma’am,” Skye responded. The Tigris channelled his might through his feet and lifted off the ground, his typical battle stance. Their resident shaman and magic expert was fit and nimble but he got more movement and speed when he floated off the ground. It took more exertion on his part to keep himself airborne, but Skye hated the idea that stereotypical mages were grey-haired, fat men who wore robes all day. Keeping himself afloat like this was like a full-body workout for him. It was a matter of pride for him that he had a rigid set of abdominals.

The elevator dinged and the big, wood-finished doors slid open.

Skye dropped out of the sky in surprise.

There was a single, dead Fuocotan sitting on the far end of the elevator. His blood was smeared all over the steel walls, dripping down from where it had been painted into the words, ‘See you there’ followed by an almost cartoony imitation of JD smiling, eyes shut and lips curled like a horizontal ‘3’.

“So that’s where he went,” Wood commented.

“Of all the…” Kira fumed and stormed into the elevator. Her hate-fuelled footsteps could’ve brought the lift crashing down to the loading dock. When she spun back towards the two males, both Skye and Wood felt like they had been electrocuted, their bodies seizing up in fear as they looked towards the terrifying woman. “Are you coming!?” she barked.

“Yes ma’am!” both barked, jumping into the elevator like it was their last lifeline. Both placed themselves as far away from Kira as possible. It was a good thing they had the corpse of the dead man in between them as Wood was seriously considering using it as a meat shield if she decided to throw her ire upon them.

And I though JD’s stare was terrifying. Everything about Kira is frightening. Kind of reminds me of when Rayne really gets into a fight…

What was just a short ride down four floors seemed to last an eternity. A sense of trepidation rose in Wood’s chest with each floor that they descended. By the time they reached the loading dock, it had reached his throat and was threating to burst out in a gush of fear and acid.

Ding!

The door swung open.

Amidst the stacks of crates, boxes and pallets of stock, he saw a large, black hoverer – a van of some sort – parked at the edge of the mote and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. There were six Fuocotan standing in front of it. A seventh was seated inside the van itself. With the back of the van rolled up, the monitoring equipment and delicate instruments were revealed.

All the assassins turned to them, eyes wide in shock. Then their eyes turned to the very centre of the elevator, to the blood smeared against the back and their dead comrade.

“He planned this…” Kira growled. “Positioned the body so their eyes are immediately drawn to it.”

Oh hell… This is exactly what happened on the roof at Pinnacle!

“They’re not dead yet!?” Skye exclaimed, flinching and lifting his arms to summon a spell.

The Fuocotan lifted their own weapons.

The reverse lights of the van suddenly started up and the vehicle immediately sprang to life. The Fuocotan were too slow to respond as the van immediately ploughed backwards and slammed into them. Three of them were pulled under the van, mostly uninjured but at least bruised. The other three – who were closest – were hurled into the nearby boxes by the sudden movement. The man seated in the rear of the van was jostled from his seat and came tumbling out of the rear, landing on his face.

The Fuocotan, dazed and still with a headset wrapped around his bald skull, slowly got up –

SQUISH!

Before a blade still in its scabbard was thrust right through his skull.

“My bad,” JD said coolly, not minding at all that fresh blood was splattered against his bare feet. “Let me fix that.”

He flung his other blade over his shoulder. Still in its scabbard, one half of Validation struck something in the van, making the soft glowing light of the engine immediately putter out. With nothing suspending it anymore, the massive truck dropped down from two feet in the air and landed on the three Fuocotan who were trapped beneath. The assassins didn’t even get a chance to scream as the two tons of metal and equipment dropped on them; sending blood and entrails splattering out like someone had crushed a crate of tomatoes.

A voice suddenly sprung from JD’s wrist, his communicator.

“Devil Team here. We’ve successfully shutdown the jamming device. How is everyone going?”

Wood recognised that voice. “That’s Rayne!” Just as he uttered those words, one of the Fuocotan rushed forward from where he had landed. He didn’t get to utter a syllable of warning before he was pouncing upon JD, vibroblade in hand.

JD didn’t even flinch and tried to lift his sword – the one embedded into the assassin’s skull right beside him. It seemed stuck and he had a second to regard it with mild agitation.

“Angel Team here,” he responded. He ducked the swipe from the Fuocotan and kicked the assassin’s shins. His claws dug deep into the bald killer’s bones and the sensitive nerves there. Both Skye and Wood – who had suffered similar blows in the past – hissed in pity. The hired killer dropped to the ground, clutching his shins and his eyes welling up in pain.

JD wrenched the blade from the man’s skull. “Ergh…” he grunted. “Give me a second.” He took the time to wipe the blood and grey matter on the dead Fuocotan’s shirt. “Sorry about that. We’re just dealing with a stubborn stain.”

“Wood?” That was Buster’s voice and Wood didn’t miss the insult.

“Hey!” he roared, his voice echoing through the docking bay and reaching JD’s communicator with ease.

“No but I like your thinking, Buster,” JD responded, giving the broad Draconis a warming smile. _“_I still haven’t heard from my dad. Spirit Team, you there?”

The other two Fuocotan dashed at him from opposite directions. JD deftly leapt forward and swung his sword backwards. Both assassins missed their mark and the one on the right got a sound smack to the side of the head from JD’s sheathed blade. The other stumbled forward and was soundly kicked in the gut.

“Shouldn’t we help him?” Skye asked.

Kira grunted in agitation. “He would dare to use us as bait and not even have the decency to forewarn us. No. I will not help him.”

That’s cold, Wood thought with a shudder.

“Alex, you there?” Rayne asked. “Tap once if you’re in trouble and need us to come help you.”

JD strode casually towards the Fuocotan that he had kicked in the shins and promptly sat on the man’s back heavily. The cybernetically-enhanced assassin gasped and let out a cry of pain particularly as JD began driving the point of his sheathed blade into his spine. “Dad?”

“Spirit Team here. What’s the situation?”

That was a voice Wood would never forget… especially since his last memory of it involved asking what sized condom he needed.

Rayne responded shortly after and sounded more curious than professional. “About that, Spirit. We’ve dealt with the jammer. Do you have the target?”

“Not yet. Working on it.”

Wood began to approach the Red Lightning seeing as he had effectively dealt with the other Fuocotan.

“Dad, were you fucking Roran Northridge?”

That made him stop in his tracks.

“What the fuck!?”

It took a whole second for his muzzle to catch up with his brain. “What the fuck!?” he bellowed. “Your dad had sex with the Roran Northridge!?”

Even the Fuocotan JD was sitting on looked mortified. “Jealous, Wood? And my dad works fast.”

Feeling his cheeks starting to burn, Wood instinctively curled his wings around himself slightly in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. “N – No…” he stammered.

“That’s so convincing,” Skye droned sarcastically. The Tigris hovered past him and flung his paws forward. A large slab of grey rock slammed right into the head of one of the ‘unconscious’ Fuocotan and the assassin immediately went rigid. The wrist-mounted crossbow he had been aiming at JD went limp.

“Thanks,” JD said with a smile.

“No, JD. I didn’t fuck Roran.”

The reply for Alex eased Wood’s mind. Images of the big, burly red-furred wolf bending over the towering Tigris against a desk while they moaned in pleasure made the blush on his cheeks grow even more prominent. Mentally trying to sweep the lewd thoughts away with a broom didn’t help. Burning it in all in holy fire only seemed to make the scene even ‘hotter’ and only this time, Buster was in the scene snickering at the terrible pun. But those last words dissolved the thoughts in a wash of cooling water.

Oh thank the Mother Goddess.

“Roran fucked me.”

That scene came rocketing back into existence only this time the positions were switched. The big, burly tiger had pinned Alex Clarke to the ground, mighty jaws biting into his shoulder possessively while his unwrapped cock ploughed hard into him, Alex moaning until their scent and sex filled the entire room that they occupied.

JD sighed loudly, unfazed by it all and – thankfully – not noticing Wood’s discomfort. “Of course he did. For what it’s worth, my mission isn’t going so well either.”

That broke Wood’s sexually charged imagination. Why would JD even think that this mission wasn’t a success?

“My soufflé turned out flat.” He glanced over his shoulder at the crushed Fuocotan that had been ‘flattened’ by the very van they were trying to protect.

“Maybe I should use less human brains next time and more eyeball juices.” He glanced at the assassin that he had given the impromptu lobotomy to.

“Doesn’t help that these guys have mostly cybernetic eyes so I didn’t quite get as much aqueus humour as the recipe called for.”

Wood was just about to question what he was referring to with that last statement when the Red Lightning plunged his sword right into the eye of the assassin he was sitting on. There was enough force in it that it pierced skull and brain in one blow. What scared him the most was just how casual JD uttered those statements.

“Right well Devil Team is heading back to the Ballroom. Angel Team, let us know when you’re done. Spirit Team, I do not want to know what you’re done.”

JD got to his feet and shrugged. “Well, you heard the man. To the Ballroom.”

“Did you even really need us considering how you defeated these guys by yourself?” Skye asked. He knelt down next to the man that he had hit with a rock. Though bleeding, he was alive. “And doesn’t it horrify you in the slightest that you’re killing these people?”

“It says a lot about my character that I’m desensitised to this kind of thing, huh?” replied the military assassin. Clarke got up from where he was sitting and retrieved his sword from the skull of the man it had skewered. “I won’t make any excuses for what I’ve done. For all I knew, these people just fell into this role because of unfortunate circumstances. Maybe they had family. Maybe they were family. It doesn’t matter to me. They’re dead now.”

Wood grit his fangs together, acid dropping from his fangs. “I don’t believe that!” he shouted.

JD wasn’t fazed and retrieved the other part of Validation from where it was embedded into the van. When he glanced towards Wood, he couldn’t meet the Draconis’ gaze and just strode past him.

Wood spread his wing, barring JD’s path. “You’re not a monster or just an assassin,” growled the dragon. “Don’t hide behind the excuse that you’ve had all this experience and have killed people before. I know that with every life you take, you die a little inside. Stop trying to act tough! Stop taking the world’s abuse with a smile! This burden isn’t yours to bear!”

The crimson Wulfun closed his eyes. A soft laugh escaped him. “It would be very easy to blame the world for what I’ve become, for what I’ve learned. But I can’t shirk the responsibility either, Wood. I became the Red Lightning because I wanted to.” His eyes opened but their laser-like intensity was gone. “Character-defining moments can wait. Rayne and my dad are heading to the Ballroom. We need to meet them there or we might miss our cue.”

Wood’s muscles bunched, veins popping up against his scales, as he tried to restrain himself. “Fine, but this isn’t over, JD. I swear to you, I will make you see that you don’t have to fight this battle all by yourself! You don’t have to bloody your paws and bear the sins of killing people who deserve it so that no one else has to!”

That froze the Red Lightning in his steps.

Even Kira was stunned.

They stood silently for a long moment until a soft moan reminded Wood that there was another of the Fuocotan that wasn’t fully unconscious. Just as he turned, an arc of red lightning shot past him and slammed into the assassin. The man screamed before falling flat on the floor, eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure if the killer was unconscious or not but Wood didn’t care.

He knew why JD killed.

“For what it’s worth, Wood.”

JD glanced over his shoulder, a warm smile on his features and his eyes squeezed shut.

“You’d make a great Paladin one day.”

Kira swept in between them, purposefully flinging her cloak into both of their faces. “That’s enough of that, lovebirds. We have a schedule to keep.”

He couldn’t be irked by her brash attitude and just shared the same knowing smile with JD. Together with Skye, they both hurried back into the service elevator, heading to the first floor and the Ballroom. In the moments between the door closing and opening again, Wood glanced towards the corpse JD had left for them.

“How’d you sneak away from us and kill this guy anyway?” he asked, hiking a thumb at the assassin.

JD smiled at the attempt at idle conversation. “Went through the airducts. Went upstairs and lured this guy down. Couldn’t lure him from the loading bay or that’d put the Fuocotan on unnecessary alert.”

“Smart. I like your penmanship.”

“Bald heads make for a surprisingly effective brush.”

They could both feel Kira’s frustration growing and threw knowing smirks at one another while Skye just quietly chuckled in the corner. When the elevator dinged, Kira was the first to rush out into the kitchen. The Fuocotan had evacuated the rest of the staff and forced them all into the Ballroom. It looked like they were maintaining a presence in each of the other main rooms as Wood could see through the door leading into the Solar that they had hostages there as well. The Ballroom had by far the most.

As he approached the door leading into the Ballroom, he saw what had caused the commotion – that first big boom.

“Whoa…” he breathed.

Sylana, that Racoorin Konseral had brought along with him, stood in a circle of Fuocotan. In one paw, she held the charred remains of what he could only assume was another assassin. The remaining murders and goons surrounded her, vibroblades and crossbows at the ready. Standing at the forefront of the circle was a bald-headed woman – likely the leader of the incursion.

“That explains that earlier explosion,” Skye breathed softly.

Kira hushed him quickly. They all peeked through the windows into the Ballroom, straining to hear what was being said.

“You have skills, girl,” the woman said. “You would make a fine asset to the Fuocotan. Surrender now and you will have my recommendation.”

Wood scanned the Ballroom and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that his mother was still seated at Konseral’s table. The Reaching Flame leader was guarded by two of the Fuoctan preventing either of their escape.

Sylana spat to the side. “Right. You expect me to believe that you’re so impressed with my skills that you’d willingly give up your racist doctrine and let a nonhuman into your ranks?” She dropped the charred corpse in her paws just to give the woman a middle finger. “Bitch, please spare me your lies.”

JD’s ears flicked backwards. “I’m going in.”

“What?” Kira hissed. “No matter your skill, Clarke-sama, you cannot take on all those assassins at once! They will likely be ready for you and there are twenty of them in there!”

“Twenty-seven,” JD corrected. “Twenty on the ground floor and seven up in the upper floors in sniping positions.” He smiled at her. “And yeah, they’ll probably be ready for me but they won’t be ready for you. Attack on my signal.”

The Fuocotan leader shrugged absently. “Let it not be said that I tried to make this as painless as possible.” She turned her back to the racoon, waving a hand dismissively over her shoulder. “Take out the trash.”

“Wait, what’s the signal!?” Skye whispered sharply.

Sylana was suddenly charging forward, flames erupting from her shoulders as white as the marble around her. The crossbow bolts that shot in her direction were instantly burned as she charged at the Fuocotan matriarch. The bald woman didn’t even flinch and instantly vanished in a puff of smoke… leaving the man that had been standing in front of her fully exposed. The poor guy didn’t even have a chance to bring up his own vibroblade before Sylana ploughed right into him.

BOOM!

They both crashed through the nearby wall into the Solar.

“Guys, we’ve got a problem,” came Alex’s soft whisper from JD’s communicator. “Konseral’s other bodyguard is up and running. She’s provoking the Fuocotan.”

JD smirked. “Don’t worry, Dad. I got it.”

The Red Lightning was suddenly gone leaving Wood with a chill down his spine. He quickly scrambled to the door leading into the Solar and peered through. Sylana had smashed right through the wall between the two rooms and now stood triumphantly over the unconscious Fuocotan.

“What was that about taking out the trash?” she taunted haughtily. Even as she said this, she wasn’t aware of the second assassin springing up from the shadows behind her, hand outstretched and ready to seize her throat to slit it.

A flash of red sliced right across the Fuocotan’s fingers and in the same instant, they were gone. The would-be-assassins slammed into the ground. JD lay atop of him casually, holding up the five digits in his paw for everyone to see. Sylana spun around, stunned at the sudden sound.

JD gave her his most innocent of smiles. “You know, I’ve heard that the finger foods served in these kinds of parties are really pretty delicious. I didn’t think they’d serve actual fingers though. My verdict?”

“Get ready for the signal,” Kira hissed.

JD tossed one of the blooded digits towards his muzzle. Time seemed to slow as it sailed through the air, catching everyone’s attention. Even the experienced lady assassin who lead this assault could only stare, enraptured at the trail of the finger through the air as it arced towards the lupine muzzle. None of them noticed Alexander Clarke and Roran Northridge springing out of the door adjacent to the Solar, Roran nocking an arrow and Alex rushing up behind a nearby assassin. They also didn’t notice Rayne springing up behind one of the snipers in the second level, snapping his neck and tossing the body aside. Buster leapt through the air, landing boldly with a crash on the first floor while Irina cast quick containment spells that immediately encased several of the Fuocotan in a block of glass. Natalia swallowed a pill and breathed a visibly green cloud into the faces of the remaining snipers. They took one whiff and immediately fell backwards, unconscious.

Lastly, Kira burst from the kitchen, a whole army of fiery-red beasts springing from beneath her cloak. Skye zoomed past her, launching himself high into the air with his paws crackling with fire and lightning. He launched a barrage downwards into the ranks of the gathered Fuocotan. Wood charged into the Solar, grinding to a halt right beside his idol, Roran, with shimmering blue cubes springing out from the four disc-shaped Matter Converters on his back. Two enormous chainguns appeared under his arms while a second pair of thick, mechanical arms sprang up from the upper two Converters, sliding just between his wings.

JD caught the finger right between his fangs before he swallowed it, flashing a grin at Sylana.

“They’re to die for.”

All hell broke loose.

Spiritual Scion (Skye)

Firebrand Crash Course

The attack wasn’t as precise as Skye had hoped. After all they weren’t exactly trained to fight as unit. Buster was initially left exposed when he landed and the loud crash of his arrival had caught the attention of several assassins. Irina lost several seconds when she hesitated before casting her spells and it took precious few seconds before Natalia’s noxious breath could reach their intended targets and that also left a cloud of knockout gas hovering in the air. Alex and Roran were far more coordinated, however.

Alex immediately rushed behind one of the Fuocotan, snapped the man’s neck and pilfered his crossbow in one quick movement. The big Wulfun had unleashed five quick shots before any of the other killers could react, each bolt slamming right between their targets’ eyes and dropping them dead. Roran was quick to follow and let off a rapid series of fiery arrows that immediately sowed chaos amongst the assassin’s ranks, forcing them into Alex’s field of vision and turning them into moving carnival show targets for the highly accurate Wulfun.

Kira introduced more chaos when a wave of Redwing Bats and Fire Badgers charged into the Ballroom and began attacking the surprised Fuocotan.

Now it was Skye’s turn.

The first thing he did was launch a barrage of flames wreathed in crackling blue lightning at the largest group of assassins – those that had surrounded Sylana a moment ago. The balls were not meant to kill, just scatter. He managed to pin one cutthroat against his back. The flames were just for show. The true spell was in the lightning which was a powerful full-body paralysing spell. The fire, however, had the intended effect of causing the Fuocotan to panic and look for guidance.

He knew it would not last long.

Already, he could see the threads of energy linking each of the Fuocotan through their cybernetic eyes. Messages were being sent from each of them but no matter how fast the communication, they still had to process them.

Must act fast.

He saw a group of the assassins immediately rushing towards Konseral, their intended target. Natalia’s noxious blast of gas was closest and he immediately seized the faint tendrils of magic that was infused into the cloud.

A haphazard Gastromancy. She panicked when she cast this. Probably didn’t want to hurt any civilians.

The cloud rushed towards the Fuocotan racing after Konseral, forcing its way down their lungs and instantly taking effect. They collapsed to the ground. This stunned the two goons holding down the Reaching Flame leader and left him open. Skye jerked forward a good six feet in the air before Gloria Bladebreaker did something very surprising.

She got up, yanked her chair off the ground and slammed it right into the face of the assassin standing closest to her. Splinters when everywhere and the man fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his face as sharp, wooden spikes drove into his flesh. The other man guarding Konseral stared after his comrade in surprise and also taking her eyes off Gloria. The scales on her body went from a deep green to a shining silver and she hurled herself at the man. There was a loud, metallic clunk and they both went down behind the table, beyond Skye’s vision.

“Wow… Wood’s mom isn’t just a business tycoon. She can kick ass.”

Pain suddenly erupted from his left side and he was forced to jerk a little to the right. He glanced down at the crossbow bolt embedded into his thigh.

Damn. Can’t lose focus!

He quickly hurled a ball of fire in the direction of the Fuocotan that had attacked him. The assassin guild was quickly regaining their bearings and the man ducked behind a pillar to avoid the spell. Skye put that out of his mind for the moment. He yanked the bolt from his thigh, grimacing at the pain before pressing the paw still encased in fire against the wound, cauterising it.

They don’t teach us this in basic Combat Class!

His senses screamed at him and he glanced back down at the Fuocotan that had attacked him. Another bolt was ready and he was in no position to strike back! He could almost feel the bolt driving into his skull! Suddenly, Rayne was beside the man, tackling the assassin to the ground just as the crossbow let out its metallic twang. Skye jerked in the air, the bolt’s fletching just grazing his neck.

“Spatial awareness, Skye!” Rayne shouted. His teacher slammed a fist into the offending assassin’s face. This particular grunt showed a lot of tenacity and swiped at Rayne with his vibroblade. The dark-haired human was very aware of the move and pressed down on the killer’s diaphragm as he pushed off, causing a gag reflex that caused the assassin to double over.

Skye hurled his paralysing spell at the man, instantly freezing him in place.

“Sorry, sir!” he exclaimed.

“No more mistakes! Life or death here!”

Rayne spun around, hurling a fist right into the gut of another Fuocotan that had attempted to attack him from behind. He was surprised to find that another fist joined his own as they both send the bald cutthroat crashing into the pillar with enough force to cause the marble to buck.

He grinned at the masked features of the Racoorin, Sylana.

“So you use the Art of the Fiery Fist, huh?”

She grinned back at him, her arms caught in a fierce, white flame up to her shoulders. “And you’re not too bad with your fists either. Who was your master?”

“Self-taught. You?”

“Konseral taught me.”

That brought an amount of surprise from Skye who turned towards the charity worker. Remembering JD’s suspicions, he noted that though Konseral was not fighting back, neither was the boar cowering.

He’s definitely holding back…

“Skye!” Rayne shouted.

The floating Tigris immediately felt the presence of a powerful spell from behind him and he spun in place. The gaseous silhouette of a Fuocotan was right in front of him, just half a second from materialising. He peered deep into its intricate web of magical energies. There was definitely the strong presence of Pyromancy in there but he also a powerful amount of Aeromancy. Amongst the tangled threads, he also saw a little, black sliver.

Umbramancy.

Skye jerked back, dodging the blow that would’ve come for him while the Fuocotan dropped to the ground and landed deftly on his feet in a crouch. Before anyone could counterattack, the assassin vanished in a burst of ash and smoke, his shadow form slipping away at high speeds.

The Fuocotan were reorganising themselves. The element of surprise were gone and now the assassins were once again coordinating their attacks. Rayne and Sylana were forced back to back as the grunts zipped back and forth, swiping at them and making small incisions across their arms and legs with their vibroblades.

A short distance away, Buster was suffering the same fate while desperately trying to protect Irina and Natalia. Irina tried to cast her containment spells but before they could fully take effect on one of the targets, the other Fuocotan appeared behind their comrade and pulled them free. Natalia breathed fire and poison in broad directions, hoping that a wide-spread attack would catch someone but the Fuocotan were just too fast. Buster, on the other hand, was too slow and his broad sweeps with Broadside were easily dodged by the Fuocotan. Cuts he suffered were closing rapidly but he got fresh new ones with each one that healed over.

The sound of gunfire rattled off in the Solar and he could just barely make out Wood, Roran and Alex being surrounded by the vanishing shadows of the Fuocotan. Those three were dedicated ranged fighters and though both Roran and Wood had short ranged capabilities, it wasn’t their specialty. Kira was in the same boat. With so many civilians around, she could not summon her more devastating beasts for risk of hurting someone. She could only dodge nimbly and summon smaller creatures in the hopes that the they could hit the Fuocotan. But every beast she summoned was quickly dispatched by the flighty assassins.

JD was zipping around the Ballroom with some impressive acrobatics alongside the Fuocotan but he seemed to be their focus. More of the assassin’s guild was after him than anyone else and he was having trouble keeping track of them all. He suffered a few cuts and bruises, using Shukuchi to both avoid and make his own strikes but none of them were at all that decisive. Strangely, he still kept Validation in their sheaths.

We need slow them down!

But how?

He stared at the myriad of energies flashing around him particularly at the spells that Fuocotan were using to outrun them all.

Pyromancy to generate the ash. Aeromancy to direct it. Umbramancy to turn their forms into shadow and grant them extra movement.

A cloud of ash was blasted right into his face, the hot embers shooting into his nostrils and forcing him to retreat backwards. He immediately slammed into the chest of an assassin that had anticipated his move. That yellow-edged vibroblade came singing towards his neck. Desperate, he slammed both paws into the legs of the assassin behind him, conjuring an all-encompassing blast of ice. The freezing coffin spread rapidly, rocketing up the man’s thighs, enclosing his torso and sweeping over his arms. Skye dared not breathe with the vibroblade frozen just an inch from his neck.

He shoved the hired slaughterer back, letting the man fall to the ground. The coating of ice shattered upon the ground, freeing the man to quickly vanish away in a cloud of ash – bruised and a little cold but not out of commission.

They’re too fast! I need a sample.

Another cloud of ash erupted from his right. There was a fifty-fifty percent change that the assassin was actually emerging from the ash this time to catch him off guard but he didn’t care. He swiped his paw through the cloud just as the familiar buzzing of a vibroblade sliced across his back, just across his shoulders. He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground. The impact from the hard marble floor knocked the wind right out of his lungs and caused a burst of blood to explode out from his nose.

“Skye!” JD cried.

His vision swimming, Skye could barely make out the black boot of the assassin that loomed over him.

“Time to die, kitty cat.”

He grit his fangs together. “Not yet!” A blast of lightning launched from his paw straight at the man. Even at close range, the Fuocotan, now more alert, teleported away in a burst of embers and smoke.

Skye grimaced got to his paws and knees, breathing hard.

“You okay, King?” Rayne shouted from where he stood, still back to back with Sylana.

Skye… Skye grinned.

“Never better.” He lifted his right paw, the one he had swiped through the cloud of ash. Now he saw it. Now he understood how their magic worked. “We win.”

It’s Pyromancy and Geomancy that’s used to generate the ash. Aeromancy is also used to lower wind resistance and allow them to move quickly. The shadow forms cast by Umbramancy is just to reduce their visibility and the sound they make. They aren’t actually teleporting! They’re just making it look like they are!

Which means…

He suddenly closed his paw. A wave of white energies erupted from his closed fist, washing all over the Ballroom and into the adjacent rooms. The assassin that had been charging at him from behind instantly realised something was wrong when he rematerialized and the second part of his spell – the burst of ash to confuse his opponent – didn’t appear. Skye immediately whirled around, paw outstretched.

“Got you.”

Blue lightning arced out of his fingertips and slammed into the assassin, sending him to the ground with every limb locked. All around him, the Fuocotan suddenly dropped back into visibility. Their primary means of maintaining the element of surprise and mobility was gone and they stared at one another in surprise.

But Skye wasn’t done.

Their cybernetic eyes – their primary forms of communication – was all linked to one person: the woman and their leader. Skye rushed towards the Fuocotan he had downed and seized the magical threads connecting them. To everyone else, it looked like he was gripping air but the moment he gave it one, powerful tug, the effect was instantaneous. The Fuocotan leader screamed, clutching her left eye.

“No more tricks from you,” Skye snarled. “And no more coordination. You’re done!” He thrust his paw forward, launching a fireball right at the woman’s chest.

She was still very much a leader of her party and dodged the blow even though she could not call upon Fumus Umbra to escape.

“Alright! Way to go Skye!” JD hollered, grinning broadly. With his prey now clearly visible to him, the Red Lightning dashed between each of the Fuocotan, delivering the decisive blows he needed to knock them to the ground unconscious.

The same was for Rayne and Sylana. They could now see their foes and both launched themselves at the suddenly exposed assassins, white and purple flames lashing through their ranks. In the Solar, the three ranged fingers were now able to pick off their targets with their greatly reduced mobility. Buster grinned savagely and swung the flat side of Broadside through the air, cleaving through the Fuocotan. Irina froze them in coffins of glass and before their comrades could come safe them, Natalia blew a blast of freezing winds at them, encasing them in a block of ice right next to Irina’s glass.

“You Fuocotan are far too reliant on your Fumus Umbra spell,” Skye snarled, striding forward towards the leader. “It’s not teleportation. You just accelerate your movements and cloak yourselves in shadow while using the ash to disorient your foes. You still need to move your muscles and you’re restricted by your own speed.” Skye lifted a paw, red flames lashing between his fingers while lightning crackled at his fingertips. “But you’ve spent so long relying on it that you’re not used to using your normal speed.”

The Fuocotan woman glared at him before a sinister smile crossed her features. “I see. You somehow disabled our ability to cast that one particular spell. But you haven’t cancelled out all our spells have you?”

Oh crap! They have more up their sleeves!

That had completely skipped his mind.

“I see you’ve also disrupted our ability to coordinate with one another,” she sighed heavily. “Fine. This was never meant to be a mission we would survive anyway. It would have been nice to return to Incendius but clearly we were outmatched.”

She pulled her hand away from her eye. It had turned completely red with blood and small arcs of electricity lanced out to burn her flesh. Her fingers formed an intricate symbol across her chest.

“If I cannot have the satisfaction of slaying my mark personally and accurately, then I shall have the pleasure of killing all of you in the attempt!”

Skye’s fur stood on and as intense magical energies flooded the area, all focused around the lone woman. A fiery red aura surrounded her, flames slashing out right and left but seemingly doing no damage to anyone around. Her eyes went completely white, veins popping up all over her face.

Crap! What is this spell!? All this energy can’t come from one person, can it? Unless she’s using her Spirit Energy too!?

A suicide attack!?

“I knew you would all attempt to kill my subordinates first before striking at us,” she screeched. “They were unfortunate sacrifices to kill both the Red Lightning and Konseral Darmin! Now face the ultimate form of revenge fire magic! The Summoned Lion of Fiery Revenge!” She grinned savagely and began chanting. “Evucatus igneus leo…”

Skye was utterly frozen in fear. The raw magical energies surrounding her were surreal. The flaming aura rose up, reaching the ceiling. A vague leonine silhouette appeared in the fire. A heat unlike anything he had felt before forced him back. Air sizzled and wavered all around them. Any liquids left on the tables began to bubble away and even the buffet table caught on fire. He could see powerful threads of both Force and Spirit Energy rising up from other sources. They weren’t coming from the living Fuocotan around him.

Revenge magic… Oh hell! His eyes widened in terror. The more Fuocotan we killed or knocked unconscious, the more damage we dealt to them will come back into this attack!

“… meam orationem audit…”

She then pulled her vibroblade from its sheath.

Quick! I gotta cancel this!

He glanced over his shoulder.

But I’ve got to protect everyone too! Ice? No. It’ll just melt. Douse her with water? I don’t have enough power to douse the flames generated from all the injuries we’ve caused!

“Mihi!” shouted the woman. “Donat!”

Then she reversed the blade, pointing it straight at her chest.

“VINDICTAM!”

The fiery lion roared and she plunged the blade towards her chest. Civilians screamed. Skye heard Irina shriek as Natalia held her tightly. Wood’s loud ‘Fuck!’ somehow cut through all the noise and he heard Alex’s desperate cry for his son.

Strangely, through it all, he heard two calm, controlled words uttered by a cold, chilling voice.

“Ether Blade.”

Suddenly the flames died.

The woman’s eyes returned to their usual black colouration and she just stared in completely awe at the Wulfun standing in front of her. It took Skye a second to realise that Jack Denver Clarke was blocking most of his vision of the assassin leader. That… and he had one blade of Validation unsheathed.

Skye, unsure what had happened, staggered a little to his right.

Then he saw it.

“What the…?”

Validation’s blade was glowing a brilliant blue and shimmering like it was made of liquid metal. JD’s eyes were also emitting that same shining glow from his irises like when he had fist faced off against Kira in the training room – that time when Rayne had demanded he stop. The blade itself was embedded right through the Fuocotan leader’s throat. He could see the long, straight blade jutting out from the back of her neck. Strangely, there was no blood.

Then a blast of bright blue energies erupted from the back of her neck, just where the blade pierced. A sound like a water main bursting filled with the roar of thunder, crackle of lightning and groan of metal filled the air. The geyser of pure, raw, magical energies blasted out and reached the far wall where it splattered across like liquid.

JD pulled Validation away from the woman’s throat. No wound was visible. She toppled to her knees, staring up at him with eyes that begged, ‘How?’

He turned abruptly, eyes closed, the scarf wrapped around his arm waving behind him. Skye noticed that the blue glow from Validation disappeared, leaving it pure and white. Only then did he recognise the metal it was made from.

“Etherium?” he whispered softly. Movement behind JD caught his attention and the Fuocotan woman was rising again.

“I don’t know what you did, Red Lightning,” she scowled. “But that was not the only spell in my arsenal!” She thrust her hand forward. “Ignis!”

A fire spell!

“JD –”

There was another burst of raw magical energies from the back of the woman’s neck. Her eyes went wide in shock and she again fell to her knees as a crippling weakness fell upon her. No fire came from her fingers.

“I wouldn’t cast any more Pyromancy spells if I were you,” JD warned. “You’ll leak out all your Force and Spirit Energy at this rate.”

Skye was confused. “What?”

Rayne clasped his shoulder. Behind him, the remaining Fuocotan had been knocked out – rendered unconscious while they stared in awe at their leader’s desperate move. “It’s JD’s deadliest and most cruel move. Rupture. According to him, every type of magic is bound to a specific part of the body and the spine. Certain ‘nodes’ along the body produce the energy while the spine regulates it. If he were to stab at a node, it’ll cut your ability to produce Force and Spirit Energy for a good long while. But if he were to stab your spine, your ability to regulate how much magic energy you put into a spell is shot.”

He looked at the back wall which still dripped with the liquid magic. “That explains that burst. He punctured a hole right into the only way she could possibly cast her magic.” Then his eyes widened in terror. “Then that means –”

Rayne nodded grimly. “Yes. Every time she tries to cast any Pyromancy spells from this point on, it will instead ‘leak’ Force and Spirit Energy. She’ll literally wither and die attempting to cast the spell. She’ll be able to cast any other forms of magic but looks like JD specifically targeted her Pyromancy. If he wanted, he can cut her off from magic entirely...” Rayne lowered his gaze mournfully. “The sad part is, Rupture is permanent. She will constantly leak Force and Spirit Energy without proper treatment. In time, the hole he made could be healed but the damage is done. She will never cast Pyromancy again.”

The gravity of the situation hit him and he couldn’t help but look upon the poor woman with pity. For the rest of her life, she would never be able to cast any Pyromancy. Worse yet, unless she sought help, her very life force would be converted into magic and lost, leaking out. Even now he could see the ethereal blue liquid dripping from the spectral wounds close to her throat.

It was a cruel fate… and one Skye realised came from JD’s own experiences with being unable to cast magic.

He’s turned his disability into a dangerous weapon.

Skye couldn’t meet JD’s gaze as the Red Lightning walked past him.

No wonder he’s feared.

_ _

Wilde Streak (Buster)

True Blade

The authorities arrived shortly after the defeat of what the other members of the Fuocotan referred to as their ‘Madame’. With the jammer completely down, Rayne sent out the distress call and the military immediately notified the local police. Apparently, the Generals didn’t want Konseral or the Fuocotan to know that they were directly involved with this skirmish. It still took a good ten minutes before the police arrived but that gave more than enough time to restrain the remaining assassins. Though there wasn’t much of a challenge after they had seen what JD had done to their leader.

Needless to say, a number of the guests were rather disgruntled over the event, throwing blame at Gloria Bladebreaker for not having adequate security. Surprisingly, the majority of them were quite thrilled. They mentioned that it was the ‘best gala entertainment’ they had ever had.

“I’ll never understand these gold-blooded rich snobs,” Buster muttered to himself. He strode down the stairs out of the mansion where inspectors were interviewing the guests and police were hauling away the assassins. Skye’s counterspell had severely reduced their mobility and prevented any escape.

He caught sight of Wood standing at the base of the stairs speaking with what appeared to be a Canonian detective. His friend caught sight of him and nodded towards the detective who tipped his hat to Wood and departed.

“I’m guessing the media will enjoy this little scandal,” Buster sighed. He looked up into the sky and could already see the media drones hovering above. The actual reporters would be in shortly.

Wood puffed out his chest. “I’ll take care of them. It’s why I get media training.”

“What about your mom?”

“She’s attending to the guests. She invited them over here, after all. Best that she speak with them personally instead of sending her son.”

Buster grinned and elbowed Wood lightly in the ribs. “You mean her son who helped save them?”

The burly and still armed dragon rolled his eyes. Though he had dismissed both his chainguns and mechanical arms, he still wore Quadrant. “Come on. We both know Skye and JD were the stars of the show. They both kicked ass.”

“I dunno. If you had seen Rayne in action…”

Wood chuckled and returned the elbow jab. “Makes me think he’s been holding back in all our training sessions.” His leaf-shaped ears perked up. “Huh, speaking of which… where are they?”

He clapped Wood’s shoulder. “I’ll go find them. You take care of the liberal parasites.”

“Thanks man.”

Being friends with a rich guy gave him a rather skewed opinion of the media. Normally he would consider himself a liberal sort of bull but he could often see through the very obvious attempts of the media to skew opinions based on their own views. Especially when there was negative press involving Wood. But then again, sometimes they would attempt to create their own stories even if there wasn’t anything to report about. He feared that this would be spun rapidly out of proportion and the valour and courage of his friends had shown would be placed on the wayside in favour for more scandalous news that would sell subscriptions.

Dear Athena, I just hope it doesn’t drive JD into thinking he’ll have to change schools again.

He found JD speaking with both Rayne and Alexander Clarke off to the side away from the sight of any authorities and the general public. If he had to guess, Alex had thrown up an illusion to keep them away from the eyes of the media drones.

“Hey guys,” he greeted, lifting a hand as he approached. “How’re you all doing?”

JD didn’t respond, his eyes cast down and lips set firming. A maudlin moment was imminent. Though Alex and Rayne seemed to be in higher spirits.

“Buster!” Rayne greeted, lifting a hand in turn. They smacked palms, a crisp high-five. “Well done today.”

“Aw, you guys stole the show.” He wrapped an arm around JD’s shoulders cheerfully. “Especially this guy! Damn, that move was crazy! I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Rayne grinned at him brightly. “I mean, you did protect both Natalia and Irina during the whole thing. That takes guts!” He nodded towards the bull’s shredded suit. “I see your wounds have healed.”

Buster shrugged his broad shoulders casually. “Part of being a Physiomancer. I can accelerate my own healing and close wounds easily enough.” He glanced over to JD who was covered in a few cuts. “You look like you need a little patching up, JD. Here let me help…”

JD lifted his blue eyes and blinked in surprise. “Huh? Oh. Right. Thanks.”

He’s distracted about something.

He ran his finger across JD’s right shoulder where the deepest cut was. A soft, pink light trickled from his fingertip and brushed against the wound. Flesh knitted together and his fur grew back. No scar was left.

“Something on your mind, bud?” Buster prompted.

“A lot, actually,” came the short response.

“Well share. We’ve all shared in the fires of battle. We’re all comrades-in-arms now right?” Judging by the pleasant smile on Alex’s muzzle and Rayne’s encouraging nod, they were likely trying very hard to get JD to tell them exactly what was bothering them. Buster’s attempt was likely a welcome addition.

“I suppose…” JD sighed and lifted his gaze towards his father.

Here it comes. Is he going to mope about killing all those people? Worry about Wood’s reputation? Theorise about the Fuocotan’s real plan?

Buster was already starting to formulate some counter arguments to all of those possibilities.

“Is Roran going to be my new daddy?”

A sound shattering glass erupted in the back of Buster’s mind. He was abruptly reminded of the jarring moment when he realised Roran Northridge had ploughed Alexander Clarke. Apart from the rising stiffness in his pants from the imagery, he wondered how much he could rub this little titbit into Wood’s muzzle.

Imagine how he’d react when he learns that one of his heroes and idols has primal, carnal needs just like any guy. Any gay guy for that matter.

May he’ll even open up and finally admit his feelings for JD!

“That’s what you’ve been concerned about this entire time!?” Alex exclaimed.

JD looked utterly puzzled. “Yeah… I mean what else would I be troubled about?”

“I don’t know,” Alex grumbled. “Maybe the attack. The Fuocotan’s plan. Konseral’s involvement? Something apart from the fact that I was fucked by Roran in the Bladebreaker greenhouse.”

Buster exchanged mischievous glances with Rayne and they both shared the same dastardly thought. He released JD from his meaty arm and sidled towards Alex.

“The greenhouse, eh? Did you manage to ‘seed’ the soil while you were there?”

Rayne hovered over Alex’s other shoulder while the Wulfun’s cheeks grew an even brighter red. “Was there a lot of ‘ploughing’ done?”

Alex dipped his head downwards in shame, his shoulder shaking in embarrassment.

“Did he nibble on your cucumber?” Buster continued. If he just had a red cape, he’d be the stereotypical devil. “Did he swallow your zucchini? Did he squeeze your kumquat?” The elder Clarke went rigid and stared at Buster in horror. “Yes, I know about the kumquat incident.”

“Did you show him your redwood?” Rayne taunted. “See what I did there?”

“Ha!” laughed Buster, pointing at his trainer. “Redwood. Because it’s Wood’s greenhouse.”

“And his dick is red!”

Alex shoved them both away roughly, fangs bared and eyes flashing in fury. “Alright! I get it! I let my hormones get the better of me! Things still turned out fine, didn’t they!?”

Rayne smirked and crossed his arms. “Honestly, no thanks to you. You were supposed to keep an eye on Konseral and the moment things got hairy, you were supposed to cast an illusion, bring him to the roof and wait for us to finish up.”

“Then I guess it just says a lot about how well you’ve taught your kids that they were able to handle the situation admirably,” Alex countered gruffly.

The flattery brought a grin to Rayne’s features.

Huh… he’s complimenting Rayne so that he’ll lay off the teasing.

As tempted as he was to continue mocking JD’s dad, it wouldn’t do good to be on the receiving end of an Ether Blade. “Skye really did a hell of a lot,” he commented. “We should start calling him ‘The Disruptor’.”

“The Disruptor?” JD echoed. “Why?”

“You saw how well he ‘disrupted’ the fuck-a-ton’s –”

“Fuocotan,” both Rayne, Alex and JD said in unison.

“Right, right,” Buster replied, waving the correction aside. “Skye found a way to disable their magic, you know. That’s pretty damn awesome.”

Alex, feeling lest flustered, smiled. “I agree. Even those of us in the military weren’t too sure about the specifics of the Fuocotan’s techniques. That Skye was able to deduce it and create a counter spell was incredibly impressive. Not to mention he did it all in the heat of battle.”

“He always had a talent for magic,” agreed Rayne. “If you’ve seen him in training, you’ll know that he can find the magical ‘threads’ in people a screw with them. Only failing is that he has to be exposed to the magic first.” He smiled up at Buster. “And let’s not forget that you were pretty damn good too.”

He grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck. “Naw. I was just a big slab of beef to distract the bastards while you all did the heavy lifting.” A flash of orange and black caught his attention. “Speaking of which, I’ll take my ‘date’ home for you, Mr. Clarke while you deal with that slab of beef that’s heading our way right now.”

Buster could trace the ripple of surprise that rocketed up Alex’s spine as the older Wulfun spun around stiffly to greet Roran. He pulled JD aside to avoid further complications. If Alex really wanted to start a relationship with the muscled Tigris, having JD there would only make things even more awkward especially since JD was technically his clone.

The police were already dispersing and letting the attendees go. Buster waved at Wood who was already being mobbed by countless reporters. The draconis gave him a short nod and spoke up, drawing attention back to him and away from JD. Buster kept his arm around the smaller Wulfun’s shoulders to hide him from the media attention.

They jumped into his truck which Trevor had quietly brought around. No matter the animosity between them, at least the manservant knew the value of keeping people’s privacy intact. He started the engine which came up with a soft hum. They were up and flying away from the Bladebreaker mote a moment later.

“Thanks, by the way,” JD said abruptly.

“For what?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“For smuggling me out of there. I’ve spent quite a while hiding my Red Lightning persona that it would’ve been really annoying if it resurfaced. Especially so soon after the Pinnacle thing.”

Buster smiled and gave the smaller wolf a little nudge with his shoulder. “Hey, that’s what friends are for, right? We’ve got each other’s backs. I mean, sure, you sort of conscripted us into this fight because you thought we had the best chance of fighting back against hordes of professional assassins, putting our lives all needlessly at risk but we’re all happy to help.”

JD sighed softly and closed his eyes. “I didn’t mean to deceive you. If you had asked I would’ve told you. Just…”

“I’m not mad, Clarke,” Buster replied though he instant regretted using JD’s surname as that made him sound like he was livid. “Hell, I’m actually flattered that you thought we’d be strong enough to deal with this shit.”

The young Wulfun’s big ears perked up and swivelled towards him. “Really? You mean that?”

“I may be a big, dumb upper-middle class jock but I still know a thing or two about people. A lot of guys that’re like me – you know, big, handsome, popular…” JD gave him a sour look which only made him grin. “… we just bask in the attention that people give us. I make an effort to actually get to know the people around me. You’d think someone like Wood would have a lot more ‘friends’ than just Skye and I, right?”

JD shrugged absently. “I have seen that a lot of the other ‘popular’ guys tend to have huge posses that follow them around. I find it funny how they all tend to gather in cliques.”

“You’ll find that some of the people in the cliques aren’t even really into the sort of thing that they cast their identity on. Some of them are just there to fit in.” He flashed a grin at JD. “And that’s why I stuck with Wood and Skye. They’re both honest guys. The odd white lie here or there and maybe a few fibs to make themselves save face but I usually call them out on it.”

“Is that why you don’t have a bigger group? They just can’t stand the fact that you see who is being fake and who isn’t?”

“Pretty much, yeah.” He rested a free hand on JD’s knee while driving with the other. “And don’t think for a minute I buy your whole ‘psycho killer’ persona. I know that’s just something you put up to disarm your opponents. The guy that’s hung out with us the past few days, the passionate, honest kid who spends every waking moment thinking about others instead of himself, that’s the guy I’d be honoured to call my friend.”

JD shook his head grimly. “You barely know me, Buster.”

“Then let’s get to know each other,” the brawny bull answered cheerily. “I just recently turned nineteen. Despite being a bovios, I love beef. T-bone steaks are my favourite.”

“Mashed potatoes?”

“Nah. I much prefer horseradish and mushy peas.”

The red Wulfun jerked back in surprise. “Horseradish?”

“Oh yeah. I love all sorts of food. Especially spicy food.” His mouth was starting to water at the thought. “In fact, one of the things I’ve been looking forward to when we go to Incendius is their mushroom soup.”

One of JD’s brown eyebrows lowed slightly making him look half-surprised and half-quizzical. “You’re looking forward to Incendian mushroom soup. Of all the things we could have there, it’s their mushroom soup. You can probably get it in a food cube here.”

Buster waved his hand through the air excitedly. “No, no. You don’t get it. Incendians don’t have that kind of tech. So the mushroom soup they make is genuinely freshly made. It’s made from five kinds of mushrooms.”

“So? A mushroom is a mushroom to me. Either it’s poisonous or not.”

He clutched his heart as if he had just been struck there. “Heretic.” They pulled away from the major traffic lanes of the sky and started heading down towards Geo Haven itself. “The Incendian mushroom soup starts off with a clear vegetable stock that’s almost topaz in colour. The first type of mushroom served with it is called the ‘Nipples of Apollia.”

“You’re… kidding, right?”

“Nope!” Buster exclaimed brightly. “Incidentally, I don’t know where you live so you’re going to have to input the coordinates. And the Nipples only grow on Incendius near the capital, Corona. They’re small, bright red mushrooms with white dots at the very centre of their caps. When you cook them, they have the most gorgeous, earthy aroma. They collect some of the soup within them so when you bite into them, they just burst with flavour.”

“So you serve your guests miniature waterbombs filled with scalding liquid in the guise of edible mushrooms. Nice.”

He gave JD an exasperated stare while the Wulfun began tapping his address on the dashboard. “The second form of mushroom is called the Sun’s Rays. They’re long, stringy and have small, nearly invisible caps. They grow in bunches kind of like grass but they retain water and when individually separated act kind of like noodles.”

“I don’t trust half of the mushrooms in the world given how a lot of them can kill you so the idea of slurping down some trying to be noodles just gives me the creeps.”

“Uh-huh. Well you’ll love the third kind of mushroom. They call it ‘Wolf Cap’. They’re these huge, black-brown mushrooms as big as my fist. They lightly sear them on each side so they have this awesome charring and serve it in the soup. They’re like actual steaks!”

“I note how you mentioned you like beef and yet this dish is sounding distinctly vegetarian.”

Deciding to ignore his charge, Buster continued. He was reminded that he hadn’t really had anything to eat at the party and with all the excitement and rapid regeneration, he was feeling a little starved.

Maybe I should grab some of that Incendian mushroom soup in town… I’m sure it’s not as good as the authentic version but what I’ve had is always awesome.

Although there is an alternative.

“The fourth kind is the Mirecragg Mushrooms. They’re pretty cool because they grow on the ceilings of Mirecragg upside down. They’re actually a little sweet and sink to the bottom of the bowl. They glow in the dark too.”

“Since when is eating anything that glows a good idea?”

“And the last kind is called the ‘Darklight Mushrooms’. They only grow in the Sunless Lands and are really hard to find. Completely black and grow underground. Really rare and kind of expensive. They just shave a bit of it and add it into the soup. It adds this beautiful, light, charcoal like taste that’s simply divine.”

JD held up his paws. “Okay, okay! I get the point. You’re hungry! I can’t cook up anything fancy like your Incendian soup but we’ve got some stuff at home. And I swear that they’re not military rations.”

“Aww, thanks babe!” Buster laughed, wrapping a shoulder around the wolf’s shoulders.

“You know I fully knew you were trying to manipulate me into letting you into our house to stay for dinner, right?” JD said, shooting that paralysing stare at him. Luckily, Buster managed to quickly look away before he was unable to drive. “For what it’s worth, I fully intended to invite you in.”

“Really?”

“Well… yeah. This was meant to be our ‘date’ and we didn’t really spend that much time together. I mean, I came in late after you, we didn’t talk that much between the time we met Wood at the door and when we sat down and then we were split up into different teams. The least I could do is at least offer you dinner.” He flicked out his phone, a rather old-model flip phone that as soon as he slid open the cap, a holographic display appeared in front of him. “Pizza okay?”

“What kind?” Buster asked. “Because if it has pineapples on it, you can forget it.”

“Sure. I’ll just get us the gourmet steak pizza.”

Huh, didn’t even react to one of the most polarising topics in all of existence.

“You don’t like pineapples on pizza either?”

JD shrugged as he dialled a number. “I honestly don’t care. Being in the military and fighting behind enemy lines taught me to eat whatever was available, to scavenge what we can and be thankful for small morsels.”

Wow. That got intense. Got to change the subject.

“That’s an awful lot of numbers you’re dialling there for a pizza place.”

“It’s actually a military code. The military has an agreement with a lot of establishments – mostly in Haven – where military personnel above a certain rank can order stuff for free. ‘Veterans’ like me basically get a ‘retirement fund’ that I can dig and refreshes every year. Given that I’m also still in active duty, that fund is pretty big.” He grimaced slightly. “Well… Not really. Pinnacle’s enrolment fees are pretty steep.”

Buster hiked a thumb at his chest as they dove past the canopy of the eldertrees of Geo Haven. The truck’s speed lowered as one of the major hazards of driving at night in the thick, winding branches was missing one of the hard-as-steel tree limbs amidst the thick brush. “I’m surprised you didn’t get in on a scholarship like me.”

“Magical theory and sciences can only get you so far and it’s not like I’m a genius in those either.” The Wulfun held up a finger as the call connected. “Hey, I’d like to order a large –”

Buster cleared his throat.

“An extra-large.”

A bit more throat clearing which caused JD to give him a ‘are-you-serious?’ look.

“Okay… Make that a humungous steak pizza. Address has been forwarded.”

“Would you like any sides?”

Buster nodded vigorously.

“Yes please.”

“What would you like?”

Buster batted his eyes at JD.

“Even though my arteries are already writing their last will and testament at the thought of being suffocated by cholesterol… one of each, please.”

“Thank you. For your order. Your account has been charged. It’ll be there in five minutes unless you’d like to pay the insta-delivery charge and it can be there now.”

“Five minutes is fine.” He hung up and glanced towards Buster. “You’re on a scholarship?”

Buster threw his head back with a snort. “Like a guy with three brothers, two of which are older than him, and three sisters could afford to go to Pinnacle on anything else.” Seeing JD’s surprised look, he smirked. “Yeah. My parents are pretty hard pressed to keep us afloat. They were so proud when I made it to Pinnacle…”

He sighed softly, remembering both his mom and dad’s beaming faces when he showed them the admission letter. “My two older brothers work with my dad at his construction company. But our business isn’t that well known. Most of the big contracts go to the huge conglomerates and we’re usually pulled in as subcontractors. I’m the first one to actually go for higher education.”

JD was silent for a long moment.

Dang. Now I went and made things too intense.

He parked in front of the quaint, little, single-storey home in Eternity Creek. JD was out of the truck a moment later and passed through the hex-field door. Buster had to lock his truck though he guessed thefts didn’t occur much in this quiet little neighbourhood. He tested the wooden door to make sure he was allowed in and was pleasantly surprised when his arm went through in a flurry of bright, green hexagons.

The aroma of freshly baked pizza filled his nostrils when he stepped into the Clarke home. JD was in the kitchen, taking a laser-edge knife to the pizza to make sure that each slice had that nice, crispy edge. True to its name, the humungous pizza was as large as the entire kitchen table and had likely been teleported in through some spell. Along with the pizza were bottles of every soda the store had available to the Diatollian-favoured mint-cola that was coloured an electric blue to the Silver Sparkle brand that Xaosians loved. The strong smell of heart-stopping garlic bread accompanied the thinly sliced steaks that were layered over the pizza slices. Bits of arugula added some greenery to the red sauce and creamy white cheese. A box of steak cut fries, curly fries, chilly fries and the infamous jalapeno-cheese-stuffed fries also sat beside the pizza box. And some coleslaw. There always had to be some coleslaw.

JD only picked up a single arm-sized slice for himself and carried it to the lounge room while Buster grabbed the rest of the pizza. He grabbed a large portion of every side before parking himself parked in front of the vid-screen. JD switched on the screen and there was a moment when their eyes adjusted to the sudden change in lightning.

Buster instantly regretted what he saw.

‘Assassins at Bladebreaker Estate’ was all over the news.

“Aaaand off,” JD grumbled, switching off the vid. “Sorry. I’d rather not listen to media speculation and conspiracy theories right now.”

“I get ya,” Buster replied. “You know we’ll be the talk of the campus again at least for the first day when we get back, right?”

“Yeah but like you said,” he smiled pleasantly at Buster. “We’re not the only special ones in Pinnacle.”

He returned to smile, glad that his friend at least wasn’t thinking about running off again. “No. No we’re not. So what do you want to do then? I’m sure it’d be rude to keep talking with our muzzles full.”

He perfectly timed his question so that JD was in the middle of a bite. The Red Lightning gagged on the stingy cheese that drippled down his chin. Buster was rather amused to watch the smaller wolf just pluck the cheese from his fur, shrug and then lick it off his fingers.

“Do you want to watch some Manallium?” offered his host.

Deal breaker, Buster mentally lamented even though he kept a pleasant smile.

“You like the game?”

“No, actually,” JD responded. “My dad can’t get enough of it. I think when he was hoping I’d grow up to be a little more like him, he tried to get me into the game so we could have some ‘father-son’ bonding time throwing around a Charge Ball. Honestly, it’s just a lot of posturing and muscle flexing with no real substance.”

“Hey, just because you can’t kill someone in the arena doesn’t mean there isn’t some skill required.”

JD gave him a curious look. “You play?”

“I’m on the Pinnacle team but I don’t follow the game professionally.” Buster shook his head while clutching a bottle of soda in his hand. “But my dad and two big brothers love the game. I know the plays, the terminology and the game but I never got into it as religious as either Wood or Skye. I’m a Physiomancer, after all. Can’t do much with that in a game of Manallium.”

“Really?” JD cocked his head to the side in a cute look of canine confusion. “Why not? I thought the Charge Balls can absorb any type of magic. Their etherium cores help them carry the energies to the goals. Right?”

Nice work there rookie but you’re still far from the finish line, Buster thought, mentally imitating his father.

“That’s right but the thing about Charge Balls is that they’re as much as an intimidation tactic as they are the only means of scoring points. I mean, my Physiomancy will make the ball glow a slight pink. But it’s nowhere near as impressive as, say, a ball infused with fire or ice. Let’s not forget that a common tactic is to smash the Charge Ball against an oppositely charged Barrier Ball or Trap-Seeker Ball to create an elemental discharge to knock out an entire team.”

“Huh…” JD had an adorable blank stare in his eyes. “I understand.”

“No you don’t,” Buster accused with a smile. “But you’re cute when you pretend you can understand.”

“No. I really understand how the opposite charges could interact between one another and how it’d be strategically valid to use the different types of Balls to disrupt the opposing team’s formations and plans. What I don’t understand, though, why your Physiomancy can’t be of help in the field.”

I guess he wasn’t lying…

“How about this,” Buster said with a coy smile, turning towards the Wulfun. “You tell me how it is that you manage to use a paper-thin etherium blade to do all those savage attacks and not have that thing shatter in your paws and I’ll tell you why my Physiomancy sucks in a game of Manallium.”

The cute, red Wulfun’s ears perked up. “Alright. Well…” He reached over his shoulder and plucked one of the blades that made of Validation, still in its scabbard. Buster realised the wolf was still wearing the swords even though they were sitting down. “You know the properties of etherium right?”

“Of course. But you tell me what you know because that can’t be etherium.” He pointed at the blade that JD pulled from the scabbard. It had the same pure-white colouration of etherium and was clearly metallic but it couldn’t be. Not with the way he wielded it.

“Etherium is a very brittle metal that has the durability of glass,” explained JD, handing the blade over to Buster. “But it’s major property is its ability to store and channel all types of magic. It’s what’s used for our spell cores and spell batteries. Our powerplants are filled with etherium to store any electricity that they don’t use.”

Buster held the blade between them. It was paper-thin. When seen from the side it was almost invisible. The blade itself was long, flat and forged with a double-edge. There was no cross-guard to the blade with the white steel sliding into the black, leather grip and the simple, diamond-shaped, silver pommel. “Right so this can’t be etherium because if it were, I wouldn’t be able to snap it in half like this.”

He bent the blade from where he gripped it.

Snap!

And the weapon broke in two as easily as one would break a cracker.

A second passed… and then another… before it fully dawned on Buster that he had just broken the legendary blade of the Red Lightning!

“Oh shit! Oh fuck!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I thought –”

JD held up his paw and gently took the two halves of Validation’s blade from him. “Take it easy, Buster. Like I said, it’s made of etherium. It’s fragile.”

Heart still pounding in his chest, Buster said, “Right… but then how did you swing it and smack people with it – admittedly in the scabbard – without it shattering into a thousand pieces?”

The wolf gave him a knowing smile. “Etherium is used to channel and store different kinds of magic through it. Just like in Manallium, with the right configuration and spells, etherium can have wondrous effects. But when you channel raw Force energy through it…” JD suddenly slapped the blade right into the side of his arm. Buster flinched forward, ready to yank the Wulfun’s arm back to prevent it being skewered by metal shards.

Strangely, the broken shard of Validation remained still and even let out a soft, metallic ringing noise.

“It becomes as hard as your will,” JD finished. “Basically, as long as no one breaks my spirit and I’m in contact with Validation, the sword will never break. Speaking of Spirit…” He held up the shard against its other broken half. “To regulate the Force energy that I channel into the blade, I use a bit of my Spirit as well. It’s not a lot, and it always returns to me once I’m done. Combined, it gives me the ability to control the very molecular structure of etherium. Which lets me do this…”

Right before Buster’s eyes, the two halves of Validation merged into one, healing the break between them.

“Whoa… That’s awesome,” he breathed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do that before.”

“Oh they have,” JD said with a laugh. “How do you think they forge stuff with etherium? It just so happens that no one really thought of using this technique as a weapon before since it uses both Force and Spirit energy. You’re basically sacrificing a portion of your energy reserves to be able to use a weapon. Not exactly the most tactically viable, if you think about it.”

Buster understood why that would be a concern in the battlefield. Most weapons should really just be pointed or used to deal damage. It was a massive drawback to have to sacrifice some of your strength to activate the weapon. Then there was the risk of losing your focus or being unable to maintain the hardened state of the etherium.

“So why do you do it then?” Buster asked.

JD held up a finger. “Nuh-uh. My turn to ask you a question.”

Damn, he’s right.

“Why don’t you think your Physiomancy would be good on the field in a game of Manallium?” asked the slim, athletic wolf.

Buster sighed and slumped back into his chair. “Physiomancy is the art of using magic to alter your own physical form and shape. It deals with biological things. Using it on a Charge, Barrier or Seeker Ball is basically pointless. The balls aren’t your body. If you want to alter its shape, you’d have to manipulate it using Ferromancy or something else. There’s nothing organic about the balls that Physiomancy can be used on.”

“Oh…” JD cocked his head to the side. “But couldn’t you be the field medic or something? I mean isn’t it a viable tactic to injure your opponent to the point where they are unable to keep playing?”

“You get three timeouts,” Buster said, holding up three fingers. “Ten minutes each. In that time, you can bring your players back up to speed but trying to heal someone while the match is going on is suicide. You’re effectively taking out two of your players while leaving one to fend for themselves. It’s a tactic that’ll never work.”

JD dropped his gaze. “I guess you’ll know more about it than I do.”

Damnit. Why do all these conversations always get so heavy?

“Hey, buck up,” he said, smiling broadly. “I’m not after a professional contract with some Manallium team. I’m still going to open that gym, remember? And you’re going to help me.”

JD’s tail wagged once. “Yeah. I suppose.” He sighed and leaned back in the chair, still wearing one blade of Validation. “So I guess you want to know why I use Validation the way I do and not use some more reliable weapon, huh?” He flashed Buster a mischievous grin. “But I warn you, this’ll be your only question. I don’t have anything else to ask you.”

Cheeky bastard.

“You use Validation like that because it leads to your special technique, Rupture,” Buster concluded. The stunned look on JD’s face told him he was right. “My question is: what is Rupture.”

That made the Red Lightning laugh. “Damn… Alright.” He straightened again. “Well, when I channel my Force energy into Validation with a bit of my Spirit, I’m able to make the blade as hard as my will and retrieve the energy again. But when I do the reverse…”

“More Spirit than Force.”

“That’s right. When I do that, I switch on my Ether Blade.” To demonstrate, the blade of Validation obtained that same, ethereal blue glow. At the same time, JD’s irises glowed with a mesmerising beauty. “Validation can’t cut through physical matter anymore.” He sliced through the couch but there was no visible effect. “But if I target someone instead and hit the right spot, I can disable their ability to cast magic permanently. Rayne once likened it to me wielding a magical scalpel and performing impromptu surgery in the middle of battle to cripple them.”

“Damn…” Buster mumbled. “I never heard of this technique before.”

“That’s because I made it up during the Fall of Haven,” JD responded. “It’s kind of unique to me because of my screwed up magical network. Since I can’t cast magic normally, I’ve become really good at focusing my Force and Spirit energy. Apparently, others have tried the same thing but they could never get the proper ratios of Force and Spirit energy right. They end up just shooting their Spirit energy into the etherium and it getting lost in the metal.” JD held up the blade of Validation. “My swords were especially made for me. The ratio I use is very specific to the exact dimensions of Validation. Anything more or any less and it might just screw with my ability to trigger Ether Blade and inflict Rupture on people.”

Buster grimaced at the thought. He was never one for the technicalities of magic spells – that had always been Skye’s forte – but he knew that this was a very specific set of conditions that had to be met before the Red Lightning could use his deadliest attack.

“Can I ask another question?” he prompted.

JD smiled at him. It was rather cute when the wolf smiled. “Sure.”

“How’d you figure out exactly what place to hit the Madame to cancel her spell?”

The red Wulfun stared at him blankly for a moment. “I… uh… guessed?”

The image of his precise, deadly assassin just shattered in Buster’s mind.

“You what!?” he roared. “What would’ve happened if you had missed!?”

JD shied away from him, holding up his paws in surrender. “H – Hey. I said only one question.”

Buster seized the wolf’s collar and yanked him forward. “Answer the damn question!”

He made the mistake of looking directly into the smaller, brown-haired wolf’s eyes because in that instant, they got their paralysing intensity again and he froze.

“Look, it was an educated guess,” answered JD curtly. “Magical energies are drawn from nodes all around the body. Your whole body generates the energy but it’s these nodes that convert your Force and Spirit into the actual elemental energy used for the spell. Through an ethereal network, they pump that energy into your spine which then gives the magic shape through the Illuminus Weizar. Between the nodes and the spine, it’s all just raw elemental energy. But the problem is that these nodes are all different for everyone. Why do you think everyone favours different kinds of magic?”

“So?” Buster growled.

“So, for someone like Sylana who uses the Art of the Fiery Fist, her magical nodes are likely in her arms, probably halfway down her forearm and probably one against her left lung as she favours her left. The part of her spine that she uses to control her Pyromancy is likely the fourth thoracic vertebrae judging by her fiery disposition. With the Madame, she was a controller, a person that commanded people her Pyromancy is closely tied with her brain. When she was casting that last spell, I noted how the veins all over her body were all leading towards the third cervical vertebrae. I stabbed her there because that was where all the signs pointed to.”

He lifted Validation again. “It’s also why Validation is so thin. Some of these nodes are really small. If I hit the wrong node or vertebra…”

Buster swallowed loudly. “Yeah…?”

JD gave him a soft whimper. “Uh… Well… they might turn into a walking magical bomb.”

His left eye twitched. “A what!?”

The wolf shrugged helplessly. “It’s kind of the reverse of Rupture. Where Rupture causes a precise release of magical energies and a specific shutdown of a certain kind of magic, if I accidentally hit the wrong node or vertebra especially one that they aren’t actually using, it’s like opening a never-before-used valve. They’ll suddenly be able to cast a certain kind of magic but…”

“But?” Buster insisted.

“But a fire without fuel won’t burn and fuel without fire won’t start itself,” JD muttered softly, casting his gaze downwards. “If I hit the wrong node, they won’t have the vertebra to control the spell. If I hit the wrong part of the spine, they won’t have the body part to generate the magical energies.” He lifted his gaze and snapped his fingers. “It’ll be kind of like when two elementally opposite Charge Balls hit one another.”

Buster had seen what happened when a ball charged with water struck a ball charged with fire. The burst of raw magical energies was tremendous as the conflicting spells clashed and tried to dominate one another. In that particular instance, there was a lot of steam that was produced and a big explosion of raw Force energy as the spells were deconstructed and the energies stored within the etherium was released.

He imagined that happening to a person… Inside a person. Then he realised that without any form of control or regulation over how much energy was put in…

“They’ll expend all of their energy, won’t they?”

JD nodded grimly. “The next time they cast a spell, it’ll be like the dam will break. They’ll be able to cast a type of spell they’ve never been able to before. But then they won’t be able to control just how much energy they throw into it. Their entire bodies will become a conduit for the spell and…”

“Boom,” Buster whispered.

The Red Lightning agreed grimly. “Boom.”

Buster finally released JD and slumped back into the couch, breathing heavily. “Holy shit… How big would the explosion have been?”

“Depends on the person but given how the Madame generating Force energy based on the damage done to her subordinates… it would’ve been pretty big.”

The big, black bovios grunted and set down the pizza that had been sitting on his lap. “Damn… and here I didn’t want our conversation to get so heavy…”

JD lowered his gaze and sighed softly. “Sorry. It’s the truth. It’s why I hung up Validation after the war. There’s a lot more collateral damage this time around. Back then, I could recklessly stab at a demon or a demon worshiper and if I disabled their primary form of magic, awesome. If not, I could just kick them into another group of demons and watch them explode and take out the other demons around them. I can’t do that here.”

It dawned upon Buster just how cautious JD was and just how much he cared about the people around him. He hid his true identity from the rest of the world for fear of what it would bring. Yet the world kept dragging him out into the fight, abusing his desire to protect the people around him even if it meant jeopardising his own happiness.

Well shit, I guess I can’t stop this from being too maudlin after all.

He reached over, wrapped his arms around JD and brought the Wulfun in to a big hug. JD flinched in his grip, unsure how to react. Buster set his chin on top of the wolf’s head, nestling his strong jaw in the spikey, brown hair.

“From this point on, I want you to promise me that you’ll stop holding back who you are. You came up with this technique, you grew strong from your experiences and yet, just like Validation, you’re sheathing yourself because you’re afraid of what people would think of you. Well I’m going to tell you now, coming from someone who has grown up with a huge family…”

He held JD out slightly, looking deep into the wolf’s eyes.

“… you can’t better yourself unless you open up to others. They will see your flaws. They will form their opinions. But whatever they do, even if it’s to throw rocks at you and call you a freak, it’ll make you stronger. You’re part of this world too, Jack Denver Clarke. Let the world see you for who you are. Let the world see the true sword you wield.”

JD’s lips opened slightly. His eyes welled up with tears and he dropped his gaze. There was no sadness in his smile, however and he trembled in Buster’s arms.

Dang… I think I’m actually starting to like this kid.

Suddenly, Buster found his muzzle filled with a thick slice of cheesy pizza. It was shoved quite far down his throat that he choked a little. JD’s fingers also carried some of the stringy cheese and it slipped into his nostrils. Buster gagged and pulled away, yanking the slice from his throat and coughing.

“Your ability to spout sentimental drivel like that on the fly is nothing short of amazing,” said the Red Lightning with a shake of his head. “Are you sure you want to be a gym owner and not a writer instead.”

“Dude! We were having a moment!” Buster protested though he couldn’t help the grin on his face.

“Yeah and it was so soggy that I think I need to go dry off.” He rose to his feet, turning his back and heading towards the back of the house. “I’m going to go change and head to on the sleep. I’ll get a temporary bed set up in my room. I don’t think you’ll want to sleep on the couch where it’s all greasy and cheesy like that.”

“You’re asking me to stay over?”

JD threw a smirk over his shoulder. “Isn’t that what usually happens at the end of a date?”

Buster beamed back at him. “Not on the first date. Unless you’re a whore, Mr. Red Lightning.”

“In another lifetime, I’m pretty sure that moniker would’ve made for a damn good pornstar’s name especially since I can call my dick my ‘lightning rod’.” JD strode towards the bedrooms. “And thanks Buster. I really do appreciate those words. I’m not sure if I’m going to show the world my ‘true blade’ any time soon but it’s something to think about.”

The big and slightly greasy bull gave JD a thumbs up. “That’s what friends are for. Let me just finish all this up and put myself on the verge of a food coma. Then I’ll join you.”

“Sounds good.”

The younger Clarke left through the door and Buster made a note of which one it was. With him gone, Buster was free to quickly scarf down as much of the massive meal that had been offered to him. It had gone a little cold but after fighting for so long and eating through his energy reserves, he was starved. A good thirty minutes later, he had eaten most of the pizza but decided to leave a few slices just in case Alex Clarke came in later looking for food. Though he had the sneaking suspicion that at least one of the Clarkes would be getting some tail this evening and wouldn’t be making it back until morning. He left a few sides as well.

Once he was done and his belly was sated, he headed towards the same door that JD had left through. He pushed open the door and –

“Holy shit!” he cried.

JD sat bashfully at the edge of his bed… utterly naked. “Uh… Well… Here’s my ‘true blade’?” he offered lamely.

Buster instantly found his loins rising up in arousal. “Is… is that thing… real!?” He pointed at the enormous, red penis that sprang up from JD’s meaty balls. It was as thick as the wolf’s arm and rose up well past his muzzle to almost smack him right on the forehead. It had to be past a foot long – at least a foot and a half!

“I may be a Gene Baby of my dad but there’s a 10% variation between me and him. I’m at least a foot and a half shorter than him and… it sort of translated elsewhere… I guess.” He gestured at his throbbing member.

“I… I…” Buster was utterly lost for words. Even though he had a full stomach, his dick was telling him to forget the potential of upsetting his digestive system and to spear himself on that huge cock!

“It’s really not that big…” JD muttered, trying desperately to break the silence.

“Dude, if you can suck yourself off standing up, it’s fucking huge!” Buster staggered forward, very tempted to touch it. “Uhm… Wow… Just… Whoa. I just have one more question for you.”

“Yeah?” JD asked, looking up at the bull hopefully.

“When’s your birthday?”

“Erm… a few weeks from now, I guess. When we hit Incendius. Why?”

Buster forced a grin. “Great! Then I can save this meaty joy until then!” He hoped JD didn’t notice just how high his voice had gotten as he was sure his balls were trying to make their way to his brain to demand why he wasn’t sucking that ‘Red Lightning’ right there and then. There was something arousing and amusing about how some of the veins that bulged along JD’s dick were actually lightning shaped.

“W – Wait, what?” stammered JD. “But… But –”

“You’re still underage,” said Buster, poking JD’s nose tauntingly. “I’m going to wait until you’re fully legal. Until then, I’m going to have to tell you to stow it and warn you that I sleep in the nude.”

He didn’t really. Living in a house filled with ‘innocent’ little children had taught him to keep his clothes on at all times. But he decided if he was going to suffer through the constant temptation of JD’s monster dick hovering just a few feet away from him, he was at least going to draw some pleasure from it.

“What!? You’re just going to leave me like this?” JD demanded, gesturing at his crotch and the ‘redwood’ that sprung from it. “Can’t we just do some paw stuff? That’s not really doing it!”

“Nope.”

“But why!?”

Buster just smirked at the adorable wolf who was begging him for sex.

“Because I’m a bitch.”