“...That’s your plan?”

  “Unless you have any better ideas.”

  Alex scoffed. He didn’t have any better ideas.

  “You speak as if you know this person who’s hunting us.”

  “Know her? No. Know of her? Yes.” Flora whispered. “She’s Aethul’s sister. Odette Relictus, if memory serves me correctly.”

  “Just my luck.” He scoffed. “Fine. This plan of yours had better work.”

  “Corwin.” Flora called out, a slight smirk on her face. “Don’t react. Predict.”

  “...I’ll do my best.”

  He dashed out of the brush, the hairs on the back of his head immediately standing on edge as he felt the gaze of someone far away on him. These trees weren’t very tall, so it’s likely that the tallest tree was where their assailant was perched.

  Making use of his honed skill to navigate clustered environments, he quickly scampered up a tree to avoid a shot, which missed its mark. He then jumped to another branch, as yet another shot whizzed by his ear, the blue bullet of energy burning an imprint into the tree behind him.

  Another shot, missing its target. He noticed the shots getting more and more frantic, as if his shooter was getting frustrated at his constant movement. Good, he was doing his part well. As he climbed out of the brush, he was able to get a bird’s eye view of the forest canopy, a vast expanse of green treetops, though one stood above all the others.

  He saw the blue beacon to his right, before noticing it.

  It was a flash, faster than the blink of an eye, but he noticed it. Had he not had this new power, perhaps he couldn’t have. Perhaps it would’ve ended here.

  Yet, it didn’t. At the last possible second, he ducked, as the bolt of magic went sailing past the back of his skull.

  Don’t react, predict.

  He wouldn’t last much longer if he simply reacted to the shots after they were fired. What would Odette Relictus be expecting him to do? Go after her? Or go after the beacon…?

  He had to think about this carefully, not only was his own position in danger, if Odette found out his true motives, his team could easily lose here. He had a job to do.

  He had people to protect.

  He jumped forwards and down, back into the brush, making a beeline to the direction he’d seen the shot fired from. More bolts of energy rained down upon him, but he managed to avoid all of them. He kept moving, until the shots stopped.

  He was too close for her to see him. It could only mean one thing.

  He scampered up the tree, making it up to the highest treetop in the forest area, but much to his surprise, no one was there. How? He couldn’t see any perch higher than this one.

  “Found you, rat.” he heard a woman’s voice. Standing on the branch behind him in the dense foliage of the tree, stood the offender. She had ginger hair, with bright gold eyes, just like her brother. She was exceedingly beautiful, her blue armour glinting as the sunlight peeked through the leaves peppering the branches above them.

  They stood face to face on each branch, it was too cramped to move quickly, so Alexander had to plan out his next attack. He couldn’t give the plan away too quickly.

  “Stand down.” He commanded. “You’re in my domain now.”

  Odette scoffed at him. “Ugh. You’re right, I hate all this nonsense about fighting and fisticuffs. Still, I’m only doing this because I have to.”

  “You have no reason to fight?”

  “Not particularly.” Odette rolled her eyes. “I mean, if you’re born to a Puritas soldier do you really think you have a chance at doing what you want? No, they drill their ideas into your head the second you learn how to speak.”

  “...They’re saving the world, how could anything else measure up to that?” Alex glowered. “How could you walk away from a job that saves so many lives?”

  “Ugh. You’re just like all the rest.” she pointed her Divinator at him. “What, are you another bright-eyed weirdo who just wants to ‘make a difference’?”

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be some kind of scepter. It didn’t look like it was built for fighting up close, but Alexander knew firsthand how deadly the bolts it fired were.

  “You’re a lot more jaded than your brother. When I heard you two were related I expected someone with as much passion as he has.”

  Odette’s face visibly soured at the comment. “Don’t compare us, rat! I recognize you now, they kept bringing you up in the strategy meeting. The Poisoned One. No wonder you looked so creepy.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “I fight to keep people safe. You know what I’ve been through, so you know that I’m doing this for one reason. To make sure no one ever dies again under my watch.”

  Odette scoffed. “For someone who lost their entire family, you’re still incredibly naive. You sound just like my empty-headed idiot half-brother.”

  “Half…?”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation. Let’s just get this over with.”

  “Shoot then, if you’re so confident.” he put his fists up.

  She narrowed her eyes, before realizing something.”Oh. So that’s your play.”

  “What?”

  “You’re trying to distract me.”

  Realizing his plan had been foiled, he jumped to grab the weapon off her, but she kicked him out of the tree. He saw her aim at her own beacon, clearly searching for Flora.

  His job was to get Odette’s attention while Flora destroyed the Blue Team’s checkpoint, but clearly it was taking too long. In a moment of quick thinking, he grabbed a branch from mid-air, breaking it off the tree, and flung it towards Odette.

  The sniper fired her shot, which obliterated the branch, but clearly threw the shot of course. He had to get to Flora as soon as possible to warn her that her time was running out. He landed on another branch and used it as a springboard, flying through the air towards the beacon.

  It took him far too long to realise he’d never been this high up while in free-fall, but he didn’t have any chance to panic. His teammate needed him. He landed awkwardly in another tree, groaning in pain as he extricated himself from the brush and leapt off the tree.

  This process was painful, but he was making progress, quickly getting closer towards the beacon.

  He gasped as he saw another shot fly past him. She could’ve easily hit him, but he clearly wasn’t Odette’s target.

  Once he was close enough to where he assumed Flora was, he took in a deep breath. He didn’t have enough time to reach her and inform her of the change in plans, so he had to yell.

  “FLORA! PLAN B!” He screamed as loud as he could, his throat immediately protesting as he coughed, landing in another tree as he made one final leap towards the ground, landing into the forested area.

  He heard a scuffle straight ahead, speeding forward as he ran, before seeing Flora fighting off a group of blue team members, as she wielded her staff with ease. Blue bolts of magic periodically came close to hitting her, but she was able to dodge at the last second every time.

  “There you are!” Flora grunted as she slammed one end of her Divinator into a fighter’s sternum, destroying their armour and sending them hurtling into a tree.

  “Sorry. She found out.” Alex said as he knocked the daylights out of the other assailant.

  “She was going to at some point. It’s my fault for getting held up.” Flora explained, before pushing him out of the way of another shot.

  “Tch. She’s aiming for both of us now.” Alex ran into some cover, Flora joining him.

  “Good. That’s what Plan B relies on. We’ve gotten super close to the beacon now, so she’ll have to stop both of us.” Flora mused.

  “You think she can’t?”

  “Not about what I think.” Flora smirked. “If you’re not quick enough to avoid her, I’m alright with sacrificing you so I can get the beacon.”

  “As if me being the bait previously wasn’t enough.” He rolled his eyes. “If anything, she’s more likely to target you because you can reach the beacon from further away.”

  “Let’s put it to the test then.”

  In a motion too quick for him to follow, she kicked him out from the tree they were hiding behind, leaving him in perfect view of the sniper who was their opponent. He landed on the floor with a grunt, quickly jumping out of the way of a shot, seeing Flora making a beeline to the checkpoint.

  “Damn…!” He took off after her, as Odette fired shots at both of them, the frequency decreasing as it was clear she had no idea who to aim for. Flora might’ve had more reach, but Alexander was the faster runner.

  “Wow. You’re fast.” Flora mused.

  “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten you throwing me to the wolves.”

  The brunette chuckled. “I had faith that you’d dodge. Besides, if we both started from the same position you’d outrun me.”

  “I’ll outrun you regardless.” He sped up. “Weren’t you the one who said it? The most selfish person on the team gets the glory.”

  “Hm. You’re right!”

  As Alex leapt towards the glowing blue sphere, he gawked at Flora, who performed a pole vault, flinging herself off the ground and flipping midair, poised to smash the sphere, possibly even before he could.

  Either he could compete with her to see who destroyed the beacon first or…

  No. There was something better he could do. He turned to the left as he noticed a single gleam of blue. Odette had shot at them. He didn’t know who it was going to hit, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t predict here. He had to transcend the binary choice of whether the shot was aimed at him or Flora. He had to make a move that their attacker couldn’t have predicted.

  At the end of the day, he wasn’t the most selfish, nor the most ego-driven. Deep down, beneath all the bravado and hatred for the Infernals that killed his family, he only wanted to do one thing.

  He wanted to protect.

  Leaping off the floor, he abandoned his initial target of the beacon and jumped in the way of the magic bullet and Flora. He put his right hand forward to block the shot, bracing for impact. He knew if this shot was powerful enough, it could put him out of commission, but he had to risk it. It was either this or Flora getting shot and him not being able to reach the checkpoint core in time.

  As he shut his eyes however, he felt the force of the shot make contact with him, but nothing else. As he opened them, he found himself standing on the ground, his right hand glowing a bright blow as he’d stopped the shot in his hands. Gritting his teeth, he let out a roar and flung the bolt right back to where it came from, as Flora swung her staff onto the core and shattered it.

  A loud gong was heard as they were now even. Both teams had taken out a single checkpoint each. There were three per team. Two more left, he had to hope that Aethul and the rest had taken out at least one more.

  “...Wow. I wasn’t expecting that.” Flora leaned on her staff. “Not only did you jump in to protect me, you also redirected that shot.”

  Alex realised that after they’d destroyed the checkpoint, Odette had made herself scarce, due to the lack of attacks coming their way. He looked at his right hand, glowing a brilliant blue.

  “I… Don’t know how I did that either.” he muttered. “I was just trying to block it.”

  “To be able to just absorb an attack from a Divinator like that…” Flora paused. “It’s almost as if you’re a Caelus. Though that isn’t too surprising.”

  “I am. Half of my body possesses these blue runes. And the other half…” He hefted his left arm. “Orange. Infernal energy.”

  “That could do some serious damage if you let it run wild. Keep it in check.”

  “I have been. I think… When I clench my fist, it charges power.” He closed his right fist, and it began to glow blue. “So any time I have hit someone with my left arm, it’s not been a punch.”

  “Doesn’t it hurt?”

  “Not really. It does hurt but… I’ve felt worse.”

  “Scary.” Flora mused, before looking at the remaining blue beacons. “Ugh. Must we really destroy the rest? I’m tired.”

  Alex scoffed. “You can’t possibly be serious.”’

  The brunette sighed heavily, almost comically. “Fine. But I’m not fighting. You do all the hard work.”

  “Wha-?!”

  “You saved me just now didn’t you? Keep doing it! Makes my life easier.” She smirked. “Lead the way, hero.”