Nightblade (Darkest night)-Chapter 185: The sound of laughter

Morgan struggled to his feet, his head throbbing painfully. He grasped his head, gingerly rubbing it.

" Grant!"

A roar ripped through the empty street.

Morgan dazedly stared in the distance.

It seemed like everyone was moving in slow motion.

Then the ground trembled.

A massive form darted past him leaping into the air.

Cassius's beastly form barreled through the crowd of Talented, hurling them to one side.

Several startled yelps rang out, a cacophony of disorganized attacks whizzing through the air.

Morgan saw Cassius leap through the air at a distant figure.

" Who is that?"

A split second later, his mouth fell open in shock.

Cassius' body spasmed weirdly then flew back, hurtling past him into the buildings behind him.

" A telekinetic Talented?"

Amanda lunged past him, dashing towards the figure.

Her red hair flapped wildly through the wind, the air turning thick with the smell of ozone.

Cold haunting laughter rang out in the street at her approach.

The sarcastic laughter stopped then a sinister voice spoke.

"Are you sure you want to do this again?" the voice asked.

Amanda screamed, launching several bursts of lightning.

In the next moment, Morgan realized something strange.

The Talented girl was simply wildly throwing around bolts of electricity without targeting anything in particular.

Morgan ducked, narrowly avoiding a stray stream of lightning.

The bolt of current slammed into the building, disintegrating the spot it had hit.

A few unlucky Talented who were hit by the wild bolts spasmed wildly, letting out agonized screams.

A moment later, Amanda's lightning grew erratic and then fizzled out completely.

The redhead reeled and then fell to her knees, staring blankly into the distance.

The obscure figure launched a devastating kick at her, snapping her head back.

Morgan watched the entire thing with growing disbelief.

His body refused to move.

Morgan could feel the poison in his wounds, seeping through his body, restraining him, holding his body in place.

A lancing pain shot through his side turning his vision a glaring red for a split second.

In that brief moment, Morgan saw stars.

He staggered back, then coughed several times falling to his knees.

Weakly raising his hand, his eyes widened in surprise.

" Blood?!"

He winced tenderly feeling his side.

A second wave of pain flared through his size wringing a gasp out of him.

"How is this possible…"

" You're hurt," Sarenus said, softly.

" Those wounds on your hands

are affecting you much more than we'd thought was possible."

Morgan turned back to the distant figure.

The laughing youth, kicked Cassius unconscious repeatedly, hitting

his head

Morgan snarled, closing his eyes.

" I should be fine, right?"

" I'm afraid they're affecting the rate at which your body is healing…"Kazarax said.

Morgan groaned.

"Ah, that hurts…"

It had been a while since he'd felt such pain.

The feeling itself was quite… exquisite.

Morgan grinned.

"If you use my power, it's likely to worsen your injuries, are you willing to take that risk?"

Emily blurred past him, hurling a stream of deadly projectiles at the laughing youth.

The blurry figure threw his head back and laughed.

In the next moment, Emily's icicles shattered.

Morgan grunted straining to get to his feet.

" Shit."

The crystalline projectiles hit a shimmering barrier exploding in a brilliant show of sparkling ice.

Morgan smiled weakly.

" Well, at this point, there's nothing we can do about that. All we can do is live in the moment. And right now we've got to get through this moment."

A brutal force pushed the Talented girl then lifted her up into the air.

Emily struggled against the invisible hold, her limbs flailing uselessly in the air.

With visible effort, Morgan got to his feet.

He stared at the laughing figure expressionlessly.

It was rare for him to feel this way, especially after meeting someone for the very first time.

But every time he heard the melodic laughter ring out, he felt a gnawing feeling flare through his entire being.

At first, he'd struggled to recognize it for what it was.

He willed himself to move forward gritting his teeth through the rhythmic bursts of pain.

And then he understood the feeling.

It was both foreign and yet jarringly familiar to him.

The feeling of pure unadulterated hatred.

After a while, Emily's figure went limp.

Morgan slowly limped forward, silently passing through the throng of Talented.

The Talented who were still standing moved aside, making way for him.

Morgan limped forward staring at the Talented figure.

He came to a stop a short distance away from the boy.

Looking at him, they were probably around the same age.

Two burly kids stepped forward barring his path.

Morgan completely ignored them staring ahead at the figure behind them.

The boy stepped forward coming face to face with Morgan.

Morgan coldly observed him.

Like the rest, he was dressed in the same dreary black garb.

Black jacket, fading black pants, and matching sneakers.

A pair of piercing eyes stared back at him through the mask.

In the next moment, the boy's hand whipped through the air.

Morgan saw it.

"Slow…too slow…" he thought, even as the slap landed.

A sharp sound rang out through the destroyed street.

" He wants to humiliate me. Make a spectacle out of this…good…"

Morgan watched the boy.

The sharp stinging pain radiating through his cheek was of no consequence.

"My Lord?" Kazarax asked.

Morgan continued observing the gloating youth.

" Wait."

The boy took off his mask.

Locks of dirty blonde hair ran down the sides of his face.

The boy smirked, then smiled.

"Look here, boys. We've got ourselves a tough one."

" Why are you doing this Anthony?" Cassius rasped, his voice hoarse from exhaustion and pain.

Morgan spared Cassius a glance noting that his injuries were slowly healing.

Now, the brat had a name…Anthony.

Anthony rolled his eyes, then lashed out striking Morgan once more.

Morgan's head whipped to the side.

Cassius roared, his transformation beginning once more.

An invisible force crashed into him, flattening him into the ground.

He resisted it, the ground cracking beneath his shifting frame.

"Why struggle so much, Cassius?" Anthony drawled.

" You realize we're in this mess in the first place because of these idiots!"

He grabbed Morgan punching him several times in the face.

Morgan quietly took the punishment, his head turning from the blows.

When the brat was done venting, blood ran from his mouth and his nose, slowly dripping to the ground.

Morgan staggered and then fell to one knee.

He inhaled deeply, then slowly raised his head.

One of his eyes was quite swollen, he could hardly see out of it.

"Brant, gimme a seat," Anthony said huffing slightly.

The lanky youth on his side stretched out his hand.

The ground surged, the concrete remodelling itself into a concrete chair.

Anthony sat down with a sigh,

gingerly rubbing his bruised knuckles.

He turned his attention back to Morgan,

staring at his bruised face.

His face lit up, his lips curling into a radiant smile.

" Now that's more like it."