Chapter 267

Alexander dove into the valley.

Trees closed overhead. Snow-laden branches whipped past as he threaded between trunks, Droney tucked firmly under his right arm, the little drone beeping its displeasure into the crook of his elbow. Behind and above, the two ships followed. They were fast, even in atmosphere.

There was no way he could outrun the ships. Maybe if he had his OACS and enough of a head start, but he had neither. And while fighting them was a real option, he couldn’t ignore the possibility that more Tier 2 wizards might reinforce the ships via teleportation.

They fired. Beams of light punched through the canopy, some of the spells vaporizing branches and gouging the earth in smoking lines. Unlike the capture vessel, these ships were playing for real. At this range and angle, though, it was suppressive rather than accurate.

Alexander juked between the impacts without slowing.

The tree cover thickened ahead. Old growth. Trunks wide enough that two men couldn’t link arms around them. The canopy merged into a dense ceiling of interlocking branches and heavy snow.

Alexander cut into it and stopped. He had no idea what sensory capabilities the wizards or the ships had.

So, hovering in the shadows beneath the canopy, he withdrew his Will and reduced his presence to its smallest. But he kept Electrokinesis cycling hard through the Core, pushing his reaction time to its peak. His physical senses sharpened until he could hear everything around him. He watched the canopy above, tracking the two ships through small gaps as they decelerated.

The first ship overshot. Its momentum carried it past his position before the crew corrected, the hull sliding through the air above the treeline.

The second slowed early, drifting into position above the forest. Close to where he was. Close enough that he couldn’t be sure.

Alexander held still. If they couldn’t detect him through the trees, he had options.

A whisper brushed his ear. “This is unnecessary. Surrender yourself, and I give you my word that no harm will come to you or the simple folk who sheltered you.”

Alexander said nothing. Scam callers only gave up if you didn’t answer.

“Silence, then. A pity.”

The second ship’s loading bay opened. Six figures dropped from the hull in tight formation, staves held vertically against their chests, wands holstered. They fell downward in a coordinated descent.

All six of them were Tier 1s.

Alexander watched them descend for a moment. Six wizards meant six staves for his new friends. If he could convince them that a revolution was in their futures.

He grinned.

Droney beeped once from under his arm.

“Relax. This’ll be quick.”

Alexander burst upward through the canopy. Branches and snow exploded around him, erupting into the open air alongside him like a geyser of wood and a cloud of white.

Six panicked faces looked down at the eruption.

Alexander threw himself into a spin, flipping inverted so his boots pointed skyward as he corkscrewed up through the center of their formation.

“Domain: Lightning Storm!”

The sphere of electricity erupted outward from his body. Lightning rippled outward in expanding waves, swallowing one wizard after another. Desperately cast shields flickered and cracked beneath the current. Bodies seized. Screams ground through clenched teeth.

Alexander hit the peak of his ascent. He reached down toward the six convulsing figures below him, clenched his fist, and pulled.

His Will crushed their defenses at the same time and every piece of metal on their bodies answered. Belt buckles. Boot reinforcements. Wands in holsters. Clasps. Six wizards hurtled inward and collided in a tangle of skulls and limbs. The crack of heads meeting heads echoed across the treetops.

Alexander dropped, rotating upright as he descended, and came to a stop beside the groaning knot of bodies, keeping them between himself and the ship. One wizard was still conscious, fingers white-knuckled around his staff, trying to shove his way free of the pile.

Alexander grabbed the staff and yanked it free of the wizard’s grip. Then he sent it into the ring with a thought.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, and this time there was a powerful spike of resistance.

System resistance.

The soulbinding. The staff belonged to the wizard still attached to it. And the System refused to let him take it.

Alexander hesitated for a moment. He was certain he could cut through it with enough time.

He didn’t have it though.

Above, the second ship’s turrets were already locked into position.

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Alexander’s eyes widened. The ship was targeting him through the cluster of bodies he was still holding in place.

The turrets fired.

Alexander threw himself sideways.

The beams carved through the wizards. Flesh, bone, and blood rained from the sky in chunks.

The ship continued firing as Alexander dove. At the last second he slowed, and erupted with the sphere of lightning once more, intentionally catching the edge of one of the blasts against it. The barrier screamed, and the drain pulled at his Core hard.

But it worked.

He dropped back below the trees and raced through the forest. A thought sent the staff into the ring without any resistance, now that its owner was in pieces.

Droney beeped. Indignant.

“I know, buddy. But we gotta move fast.”

Another beep. Disdain.

Alexander blinked at Droney. “What? I’m not playing around. These are very important tests.”

A third beep, longer than the others.

Alexander twisted, cutting it close between two trunks.

“I know it wasn’t a real skill. I don’t get more slots until Tier 3. I was imagining what it would feel like to really explode with lightning instead of just shocking people.”

Ahead and above, the first ship was launching its own squad of wizards. Through the gaps in the canopy, he could see them already descending. Twelve this time. And every one of them had shields up.

They dropped through the canopy in a wide formation, staves in one hand, wands in the other, and opened fire the moment they had line of sight.

Alexander put on a burst of speed, Droney still tucked under his right arm. He wanted to use the opportunity to push his physical stats, but it was hard to train Dexterity and Agility while also propelling himself with Metallokinesis. The System only seemed to partially reward it.

Still, something was better than nothing.

Spells tore through the air around him. Beams of light punched into trunks, blowing bark and wood in every direction. A blast of concussive force detonated against the ground to his left, showering him with frozen earth. Another clipped a branch above his head, sending snow raining down on him.

He weaved between the descending wizards. One fired point-blank as he passed. Alexander flooded his cybernetic arm with Electrokinesis and backhanded the spell out of the air, deflecting the blast back up through the canopy.

Another wizard tracked him, muttering an incantation, staff sweeping to follow his movements.

Alexander closed the distance in a heartbeat. His cybernetic fist punched through the wizard’s shield, lightning crackling across the barrier as it shattered, and connected with his face.

The wizard’s head snapped back. His body followed, hurtling backward until he hit a trunk with a crack that shook snow from the branches above.

Alexander didn’t slow. He tore past the falling body and accelerated, weaving through the remaining wizards before they could react.

Through a gap in the branches overhead, he saw that another squad was already dropping from the ship’s loading bay.

He clicked his tongue. As much fun as this was, he still had to figure out a way to lose the ships.

Then he glanced back as he pulled away from the formation.

One wizard was keeping pace. Not comfortably. The look on the man’s face screamed that it was his first time racing through a forest at breakneck speeds while fighting for his life.

But he was almost keeping up.

Alexander frowned. Wizards didn’t fly that fast. None of the ones he’d fought so far had come close.

He hesitated. Then he grinned.

Just a little more fun.

Alexander decelerated hard. He rotated mid-air, boots swinging forward, and planted both feet against a trunk. The wood cracked under the impact. He launched off it back the way he came, bark exploding behind him.

The fast wizard’s eyes went wide as Alexander streaked past him.

Alexander waved.

A fraction of a second later he reached the others. He had about thirty seconds before the next squad reinforced them.

His cybernetic arm caught the first wizard across the chest at full speed. The impact barely registered as a yank in his shoulder. The wizard folded around his arm and ragdolled sideways into the undergrowth.

Alexander spun. Lightning erupted from his palm in a concentrated burst that took the second wizard square in the sternum. The blast launched him backward through two sets of branches before he hit the ground and didn’t move.

Eight left. Shields up. Staves rising. Incantations starting.

Alexander’s Will exploded out of him, crushing the wizards’ own.

They faltered under the onslaught, eyes going wide. Flight spells stuttered.

Then he clenched his fist. Metallokinesis tore through their shields like paper and seized every piece of metal on their bodies.

He swept his arm sideways.

Eight wizards flew. Two slammed into trunks with cracks that echoed through the valley. One hit the ground at an angle and bounced, tumbling through the snow. Three crashed into each other mid-flight before careening into the rocky valley wall. The last two smashed through a thicket of young trees, snapping trunks as they went, before coming to rest in the undergrowth.

The forest went quiet for a heartbeat. Fifteen seconds until the reinforcements breached the canopy.

Alexander hovered in the silence, breathing steady.

Droney beeped again. Judgment.

“Okay, so I am having fun. Tell Jasmine to sue me when we get home.”

Behind him, the fast wizard had come to a stop. He hung in the air between two trees, staring at the devastation.

Alexander rotated toward him. “You are coming with me. Augustus needs to know how you fly so fast.”

Droney translated with a sense of smugness.

“That was unnecessary,” Alexander said, releasing the little drone.

The wizard shook his head and started flying backward.

Alexander burst forward. He closed the distance in an instant, reached out, and grabbed the wizard by the face.

Then he kept flying, cybernetic fingers gripping hard, dragging the wizard through the air behind him while the man beat one arm against his cybernetic. The blows landed with the full force of a panicking Tier 1 wielding flesh against metal.

“Go to sleep.”

Electrokinesis pulsed through his palm and into the wizard’s face. The man’s body went rigid. A muffled scream vibrated against Alexander’s fingers. Then the thrashing resumed, weaker.

Alexander reached out and grabbed the staff with his other hand, and tugged it free of the wizard’s weakened grip.

“Seriously. Go to sleep.”

Another pulse tore through the wizard. His legs kicked once. Then his hands dropped, and he went completely limp.

Droney beeped from behind, racing to keep up. A query.

“First we’re going to find a nice quiet cave,” Alexander said. “And while we wait for the ships to give up, we’ll ask our new friend all about the Empire. About staves. Spellbooks. Divines. And where they keep their metal reserves.” He paused. “Ooh. Or maybe their staff and wand stockpile.”

Droney beeped again.

“I’m sure Annie will forgive me. It’s not my fault if the next heist takes place in another universe.”