Victoria froze, her mind refusing to accept what she was hearing.
The sinister voice came from behind her.
Victoria instinctively directed her power towards the masked figure.
"I’ll fry his brain before he can move," she snarled.
In a heartbeat, Victoria focused the brunt of her psychic ability into a psionic storm, scrambling the man’s mind.
The masked man grunted, staggering back, then dropped to one knee, grasping his head.
Waves of psionic energy burst out, rippling outward from the sheer amount of power Victoria had unleashed.
Victoria spun around with a triumphant smile.
"What was that about disappointment? I guess I should be the disappointed one."
The man groaned, repeatedly bashing his head on the ground.
"Like I said before, I’m not impressed."
Once more, the man’s voice spoke from behind her.
The man on the ground slowly faded from sight.
Victoria’s eyes widened once more.
" A mirage?! But how?"
A chill ran down her spine.
Victoria instinctively hardened the air around her, then yanked on the air, propelling herself forward. She flew through the air, her figure blurring as she sped away.
A heartbeat later, the masked figure materialized in front of her, then punched through the wall of air around her.
Victoria gasped as the man’s hand effortlessly slid through the shield, partly lodging in her abdomen.
Blood bubbled out of her mouth, trickling down the side of her face.
Victoria snarled, shoving the figure back with a wall of compressed air. A concussive force exploded outward from the violence exerted on the air.
Colour drained from her face, and she dropped to one knee, applying pressure to her wounded side.
Her violet eyes flared up once more.
The air around the man vibrated with increasing intensity, then the ground cracked. Deep jagged webs of cracks began to spread, the air threatening to crush the man as he stood in place.
Victoria increased the gravity around the man tenfold, gritting her teeth from the strain of using her power while wounded.
" Thrain, where are you, damn it all?" she whispered telepathically.
The masked figure rolled his shoulders.
" Hmm, is this a trick with the gravity? If it’s of any comfort to you, I can hardly feel it.
The man casually took a step forward.
He leisurely took another step forward.
"It makes for a wonderful massage."
The man walked forward until he was standing in front of her.
Victoria’s eyes widened in disbelief.
" What is this monster?"
Just as the man reached out for her, the shadows stirred, and then Thrain appeared. Three more figures stepped out of the darkness behind him.
Victoria almost breathed a sigh of relief. The man scoffed quietly.
" I can see that you’re no longer afraid. Are they supposed to be your allies?"
Victoria conjured a javelin of light and then hurled it at the man.
The man lazily reached out and, with one hand, snatched the deadly projectile out of the air.
"Interesting," he said, quietly examining the javelin, " You can use light, too? My master will love this."
Time seemed to slow down. The man’s figure blurred.
In one fluid motion, the man grabbed her by the neck, lifting her into the air. Then, horrifyingly shoved the javelin through the wound in her abdomen.
"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword," he whispered in her ear, then tossed her aside.
Victoria screamed, her eyes rolling back.
In the next second, Thrain moved with inhuman speed, appearing next to the masked figure.
He punched at the figure, but the man simply raised his palm, blocking the fist with ease.
A wave of destructive force rolled outward from the point of impact, clashing with the dome of air.
The ground beneath the two men cracked.
The masked man chuckled lightly.
" Very impressive. My turn."
Before he could barely process what was happening, the man’s fist simply appeared next to Thrain’s head.
In the next moment, there was an explosion of light and sound akin to a thunderclap.
Thrain flew through Victoria’s air barrier like a rag doll, crashing through the building embedded in a sphere of darkness.
Luckily, most of the employees had been safely evacuated.
The masked man’s fist blurred through the air, knocking out Victoria. For original chapters go to NoveI[F]ire.net
The air dome promptly disappeared.
Seth laughed hilariously, grabbing his sides.
"Get her, Seth." Liu Zhen quietly said.
The youth sighed, then reluctantly walked forward.
In the next moment, Victoria disappeared and reappeared next to Liu Zhen.
Seth appeared next to the masked figure, ducking just in time to dodge what could have been a fatal blow.
In the next instant, he switched places with Liu Zhen.
The blind man lunged forward, swinging his hand through the air. The man before him disappeared.
An unseen blade passed through the space where the man had been standing, cutting through the very fabric of space.
LI Zhen redirected the blade upward, and for a brief moment, day became night.
The blade cut through the sky, and for a few moments, the black void of space became visible with the stars in the sky.
The masked man laughed, his laughter echoing hauntingly through the street.
" Ah, I know you. You must be Liu Zhen, the bladeless sword."
A pleasant smile appeared on the blind man’s face.
" Well met, and who might you be? It would be rude for us to continue conversing without getting to know your name."
The man cocked his head, his mask remaining firmly attached to his face.
" Is that so? Then in that case, you may call me Anonymous."
" In that case, Anonymous," Thrain’s deep voice rang out, " you made a mistake coming here alone."
He nonchalantly stepped out of the rubble, staring at the masked figure with an inscrutable expression.
The two men made for an eerie sight with their sinister masks
A moment later, Thrain rose into the air and called on the darkness within the city.
The shadows and hidden pools of darkness answered his call, flowing down the streets like a flood.
The darkness in his mask stirred ominously, swirling in on itself.
The flood violently swept through the city towards the remaining civilians and wounded like a hurricane of destruction.
Terrified screams tore through the air; some people tried to run, others clung to their loved ones, tightly closing their eyes.
The flood of darkness washed over the people present, and after it passed, there was nothing left.
" How heartless," the masked man said with a laugh.
A dome of cold shadows and darkness rose, enveloping the entirety of the business district.
The people found themselves outside the city, screaming hysterically, while others lay on the ground.
Police officers and paramedics quickly swarmed them from every direction.
Pandemonium ensued, hysteric screams and curses rang out.
"Ma’am, ma’am, you’re alright, you’re safe," a police officer whispered to a woman who was hysterically rolling on the ground.
A middle-aged man with jet black dyed hair approached some of the calmer civilians who had literally appeared out of thin air.
The man was dressed in the gray and black of Eden City’s finest, the Eden City police department.
" Where did you come from? "
Once the conscious men turned to him curiously, his gaze shifted back to the ground.
" We were inside the business district, sir."
"Now we’re getting somewhere," he muttered under his breath.
" What exactly is happening in there? We’ve received reports of a terrorist attack, but as you can see, despite our best efforts, we can’t get in there."
The man shivered slightly.
" Yes, sir, they’re terrorists; they want to blow up the entire city."
Nearby, the hysterical woman’s screams had grown louder.
Monsters!!! Monsters!!!!
The chief of police of Eden City glanced at her, then turned to the dark barrier with a complicated look on his face.
" What the hell is going on here?"
Raymond silently watched the police do their best to get information from the hysterical civilians.
" From the looks of things, some sort of paranormal event is taking place within the city."
A slight frown appeared on his face.
"But for Thrain to intervene personally, these people, their memories have been altered."
Raymond glanced at the hysterical woman.
" She’s probably a latent Talented. That would explain why she seems to recall bits of whatever is happening inside."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"It’s high time I made my entrance. "