Usurper of Fire

Hunter had four explosive shots left and his metal knuckles. Noting how ineffective the last round was he saved the remaining shots. He only dodged the blade arm and struck blows when he could.

The man before him wasn’t nearly as strong as the behemoth he fought earlier, but he was craftier. In between Gamma’s strikes his limbs would change forms, to bludgeoning weapons.

“Pathetic,” he said. “This is what the crown sends nowadays? You wouldn’t last a day in the old times.” He thrusted a mace-shaped arm toward Hunter, who caught the blow with his hands. Yet his arm extended and collided with Hunter’s chest.

Hunter was sent flying backward. He stood, watching as Gamma, who had absorbed some of his leg into his arm to allow the extended arm attack, returned his body to normal.

“Interesting body you got there.”

Gamma grinned and swung at him again. He caught the blow once more and activated his sight, stunning both men. A few moments later, they regained their composure and stumbled back from one another.

“What the hell was that?” Gamma asked.

Hunter grinned.

“I just learned how to kill you, Bruce.”

His eyes widened.

**********

Cadivus ran toward Alpha, screaming to get his attention off Thermia, while Ekio leaped into a group of guards. She swung her air-infused staff around, knocking them about.

He swung at Alpha.

“Got you!” Cadivus cried as his blade collided with Alpha’s back—before it bounced off, and the weapon’s vibration hurt his hand.

Alpha blew air through his nose.

“Yeah, you sure got me, bro.” He continued his glare at the crowd, not paying attention to Cadivus.

Cadivus kept swinging at Alpha’s body, trying to cut through it. Growing frustrated, he grabbed the sword with two hands and swung as hard as he could, screaming. Alpha slightly stumbled and turned around, angry. Alpha punched his chest, and he felt all the air rush out of his body. He was then struck in the back of the head, sending him face-first into the ground. Alpha placed his boot onto his back.

“What the actual fuck?” Cadivus groaned.

“Maybe you didn’t realize it, but I’m decked out in the best enchanted items money can buy!” He showed off his outfit, several rings, necklace, and bracelet. “I had a few things tailored to fit, which might have dampened their effectiveness a bit, but it’s more than enough to get the job done.”

He picked up Cadivus by the back of his shirt, lifted him into the air, and stared at him through his tinted glasses. “Oh. A siphon. Yeah, that’s not gonna work on me, bud. I’m not a hybrid, you can’t steal my powers.” Cadivus shook his head.

“Siphon?”

His response was to throw Cadivus into Sigma’s table, smashing it to pieces and freeing him from the bonds.

Sigma groaned as he regained consciousness. He looked down at his arm that wasn’t repaired. His face grew angry.

“Why arm not fixed?!” he growled at Cadivus. He picked Cadivus up with his good arm, struggling as he did so.

Cadivus pointed toward Alpha.

“He said you can jerk him off just as good with one arm. Of course, I told him that’s ridiculous. You can’t hit the staff and satchel at the same time that—”

Sigma dropped him to the ground and bared his teeth at Alpha, who was paying attention to the other fights in the room.

“Finish him, Sigma.” Alpha said without looking at him.

“I crush ants!” Sigma yelled as he ran toward Alpha. He picked Alpha up, threw him into a pillar, and rained punches onto him.

Alpha just shook his head as the blows landed.

“You have two seconds to stop this.”

He just kept attacking.

Once two seconds passed, Alpha caught his arm and ripped it off his body. He cried out, tears filling his eyes. Alpha smacked him with his detached arm knocking him to the ground.

“I hate to put down a good pet,” Alpha said. “But you bit your master.”

Sigma’s roars from the ground were silenced when he stomped through his head. The explosion of blood slowly dripped off his clothing and fell to the ground around him. He looked toward the light-skinned woman and noticed she wasn’t strapped to the table anymore.

**********

“Thanks, traitor!” she said to El as they hid behind a pillar.

“Traitor?” El said. “Hello! I’m the one who saved all your asses.”

Confusion filled her face as she thought about the situation.

“But you sent me and Ekio to the wizard and then let Gamma pretend to be you.”

El placed a hand over her mouth and giggled.

“Oh, sorry. I’m bad with directions and Gamma caught me trying to steal his code.” She turned to look at him fighting Hunter. “He’s tougher than he looks, and he looks pretty terrifying to begin with!”

Thermia nodded, deciding to trust her.

“Okay then. What do we do now? It doesn’t look good for us, does it?”

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment.

“I think I know what has to be done, but…you might not like it.” She raised her eyebrows at Thermia and then whispered into her ear.

Thermia’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

“Are you crazy? I’m not doing that!”

She stared at her and tilted her head, letting the moment hang in the air.

“Fine! Just so you know, I haven’t been able to work out in weeks.”

She laughed and left, stealthily crouching around the room.

**********

Ekio defeated enemy after enemy. She thought of her youth, training against multiple attackers in a courtyard. Her mind drifted back to that time. Laughing with her sparring partners. Her entire youth had been spent training for moments like these. It came as natural as braiding hair. Alpha’s guards, on the other hand, lacked technique and practice.

Standing in the middle of the remaining soldiers, she glanced at her bracelet. She then narrowed at the remaining guards.

“All at once now, boys!” one of the guards shouted. “She can’t stop all of us! Charge!”

As they swarmed, she thrusted her staff out, and a sternum cracked when it connected. Luckily for her, Cadivus had caused them to strip off their metal armor. She brought the staff back and swept it across the ground, tripping three guards. She performed an overhead blow to one in the middle and released the staff to shoot wind toward the other two, sending them flying over the stone floor. Her foot caught the staff, and she kicked it back into her hands.

The remaining six guards formed a circle around her, raising their weapons. Focusing, she took a deep breath. She held the staff in the middle and parried their blows as they rained down on her. It didn’t take long for their lack of training to show as their blows became slower and more forced.

She caught a glimpse of the dagger she had won from Cadivus in the hands of one of the guards. She swung up at his hand causing the dagger to shoot into the air. She thrusted the tip of the staff into his forehead, pulled on the dagger in the air, and dodged it as it came down. It stuck into the neck of a man behind her.

She tried to command it back, but it was stuck too deep. She rolled backward, removed it, and launched the staff toward the feet of the last four. They stumbled, and she moved in, slicing through their vital arteries. When she was on the other side of them, she pushed them with her wind forcing them against a wall.

They grabbed at their wounds that would soon drain most of their blood.