"NOW!" Darian screamed.
Lisa was already moving. With a sound that was more a controlled sonic boom than footsteps, she launched herself forward. The winged shoe on her hand pulsed, amplifying her already incredible speed. She moved like an arrow, not a person.
"Swift Strike!"
Her bat was no longer a club; it was a gleaming blade of kinetic energy. She aimed not for the Elder's head, but for her wrist, seeking to disrupt the flow of her Constellation power.
At the same instant, Isara unleashed her most potent offensive skill.
"Glacier Burst!"
The ice covering the ground around them erupted into a massive, jagged column of deep blue ice, forming a spear aimed directly at the Elder's chest. The air screamed as the supercooled mass tore through the ground.
The Elder did not flinch. She simply tilted her head, a flicker of annoyance in her black eyes.
The instant Lisa's bat struck the air where the Elder's wrist had been, the old woman moved, not with speed, but by stepping out of existence. She warped, leaving a blurred outline, and reappeared three feet to the side, completely bypassing Lisa's devastating strike.
The Glacier Burst, however, was not so easily avoided. It missed her heart, but the sheer force of the exploding ice column was immense. The Elder was forced to raise both hands, generating a black, oily shield of energy that intercepted the ice. The impact was deafening, shaking the entire underpass and sending shrapnel of ice and concrete flying.
The Elder was thrown backwards ten feet, skidding across the concrete on her heels, but her shield held. The black energy flickered but did not break.
"Pathetic," she scoffed, though her breath was clearly ragged. "A mere annoyance."
But the diversion had worked.
"Go!" Lisa yelled, already running toward the exit ramp Darian had originally planned to use. Her three guards, who had been holding back, instantly started laying down covering fire with their energy blades, keeping the still-conscious but obsessed Corpseheart son pinned down.
Darian grabbed Isara's arm, his power entirely depleted. "Run!"
The three of them sprinted up the ramp, Darian relying on his own physical training, Isara using small bursts of ice energy to enhance her speed, and Lisa running at a near-superhuman pace, outpacing both of them effortlessly.
"The next turn! Follow me!" Lisa shouted, gesturing down a dark, narrow alleyway between two ruined warehouses.
The Elder, recovering from the blast, rose to her full height, her face contorted in incandescent fury. She looked down at her still-twisting, damaged son, and then at the retreating forms.
"They will not escape me!" she shrieked. She didn't bother using Nulls or Constellation power this time. She simply threw her body forward, moving with a speed that defied her age, a horrifying testament to the physical enhancement her Constellation granted. She was on the ramp in seconds, covering ground faster than Darian thought possible.
As they reached the corner of the warehouse, Darian glanced back. The Elder was closing the gap rapidly, her skeletal hands outstretched, her black eyes burning with lethal intent.
"Isara, Ice Wall! Now!" Darian yelled.
Isara stumbled, nearly collapsing from the effort of the Glacier Burst, but she dug deep. A thick, opaque wall of ice erupted from the concrete, sealing the entrance to the alley. It was a purely defensive move, buying them perhaps three seconds.
"My guards!" Lisa gasped, looking back, concern overriding her survival instinct.
"They are Swiftblades, they are professionals! They'll be fine! They know the cost of the mission!" Darian grabbed her arm, pulling her deeper into the maze of warehouses. "Focus on getting us out!"
They sprinted through the dark alley, the roar of the ice wall shattering and echoing behind them. Lisa, forced to slow down for Darian and Isara, was visibly frustrated by the lack of speed, but she kept pace, her senses alert.
"We need to get to the Old Dockyards," Lisa panted, pushing through a chain-link fence. "My extraction point is there. If we can reach the water…"
CRASH!
The Elder burst through the fence behind them, ignoring the jagged metal. She was now only forty feet away.
"No escape, Commander!" she screamed. "The Lord needs your power! Your ability to sow discord among our Nulls is a threat to the Grand Design! You will join my family! By force!"
As she said the word 'force,' she raised her hand, and the atmosphere around Darian suddenly compressed again, an invisible fist trying to crush his lungs. Darian gasped, collapsing to one knee, clutching his chest.
"Darian!" Isara cried, instinctively throwing herself between him and the Elder.
Isara's body flared, releasing a pulse of Absolute Zero energy that didn't hit the Elder, but saturated the space between them. The air crystallised, momentarily scattering the crushing force.
Lisa, seeing Darian immobilised, turned, her bat flashing.
"You want him? You'll go through me!"
Lisa was fighting a losing battle of speed versus power. She was on the Elder in a second, delivering a stunningly precise series of blows. The bat was a whirlwind, hitting the Elder's chest and arms with concussive force.
The Elder simply endured the blows, her ancient skin tougher than Darian expected. She barely staggered. "Fast, but weak, little girl. You worry about a single Envoy when the Lord is preparing to capture the entire Guild's Constellation nexus."
She brought her own skeletal hand up, not to strike, but to touch. Her fingers, tipped with black, dry energy, lunged for Lisa's face.
Lisa, relying on pure speed, ducked the touch, sliding under the Elder's arm, and delivered a devastating upward strike to the Elder's jaw.
Crack!
The blow connected, and the Elder's head snapped back. A thin trickle of black blood appeared at the corner of her lips.
For the first time, the Elder looked genuinely surprised, a flash of pain in her black eyes. "A physical Constellation," she rasped. "Impressive."
The brief distraction was enough. Darian, gasping for breath, struggled to his feet.
"Isara, let's go!"
They grabbed Lisa, who was still dancing around the infuriated Elder, striking and dodging.
"Leave her!" Darian urged.
"No! I won't be saved by a weak envoy!" Lisa snapped, unwilling to retreat while she had the advantage.
But the Elder's fury had brought clarity. She unleashed her power not as a focused strike, but as an overwhelming field. The ground cracked beneath her feet, and a surge of black energy, the pure essence of her Constellation, exploded outward.
Lisa was caught in the shockwave. She was thrown violently into the nearest warehouse wall, slamming into a metal pipe that buckled under the force.
"Lisa!" Darian yelled, seeing the powerful girl slump.
"Forget her, Darian! She's out! We have to go!" Isara pulled him hard toward the end of the alley.
They burst out of the warehouse maze and onto the dilapidated boardwalk of the Old Dockyards. The vast, black expanse of the river stretched out before them, smelling of brine and rust.
Behind them, the Elder was already recovering, walking toward them with grim, relentless focus.
"The river is useless! Our Lord intends to use the very essence of the city to fuel his expansion! You think mere water will save you?" she declared.
Darian looked around desperately. His Constellation was useless against her raw power, and Isara was nearing collapse.
"The extraction point... where?" Darian yelled at the semi-conscious Lisa, who was now leaning heavily on Isara.
"The abandoned ferry… the Charon… it's a hundred yards out… a small boat is waiting under the pilings…" Lisa whispered, her eyes fluttering shut.
"A hundred yards of open water…" Darian murmured, looking at the dark, choppy river. Impossible.
He closed his eyes. Mayhem. Chaos. Distraction.
He had one final skill he hadn't wanted to use, a desperation move. It required absolute focus and a complete abandonment of energy.
"Madness Incarnate," Darian muttered, channelling the last dregs of his power. This skill didn't control, nor did it cause rage. It simply unleashed a wave of pure, psychic noise, a soundless scream of chaotic thought aimed directly at his target's consciousness.
The Elder, marching toward them, suddenly stopped. She clutched her head, her black eyes squeezing shut. A low, agonising groan escaped her lips. The attack was utterly non-physical, yet it was the only thing that had momentarily stalled her completely.
"Now! Go!" Darian pushed Isara and Lisa toward the edge of the dock.
Isara, understanding the plan instantly, didn't hesitate. She threw herself off the dock, pulling Lisa with her, and plunged into the frigid, black water below.
Darian waited for a moment longer, ensuring they were submerged, before turning and jumping in himself.
The moment Darian hit the water, the Elder recovered. Her eyes snapped open, blazing with furious understanding.
"You think a little water will stop a Corpseheart?" she screamed, walking to the edge of the dock.
She raised her hands over the water. The river, that black, churning expanse, began to obey. The surface boiled, and a massive, swirling whirlpool began to form directly where Darian, Isara, and Lisa had disappeared. The Elder was creating a crushing vortex of water, pulling everything down to the deep mud.
Darian, submerged in the freezing depths, felt the crushing pull of the Constellation power. He was dragged sideways, unable to orient himself. His lungs were burning, and the darkness was absolute.
But then, a burst of pale blue light appeared beside him. Isara, despite her exhaustion, had found him. She grabbed his arm, pulling him through the dark water. Her skin was radiating a faint heat, protecting them both from the initial shock of the cold.
She pointed forward, her eyes wide with desperation, gesturing toward the shadowy tangle of pilings supporting the distant, hulking shape of an abandoned ferry.
They swam with everything they had, the pull of the vortex dragging at their legs like invisible, suffocating hands. Just as Darian felt his strength fail, a strong, quick current pulled them both forward, guiding them right into the narrow space between two moss-covered wooden pylons.
And there, waiting in the absolute gloom, was a small, sleek speedboat, idling silently.
A man in a black tactical suit reached out, grabbing Darian first, then Isara and the unconscious Lisa, hauling them roughly out of the river.
Above them, the Elder, thwarted, unleashed a terrifying roar. The whirlpool collapsed, splashing back onto the dock in a destructive wave, a final, furious display of power.
The man in the suit didn't waste a second. He throttled the engine. The boat shot out from beneath the pilings and into the main channel of the river.
Darian collapsed onto the floor of the boat, shivering violently, water streaming from his clothes. He looked up at the Elder, still standing at the edge of the ruined dock, a monument of frustrated rage.
As the boat accelerated away, the Elder raised her hand one last time, a final, terrifying message etched in the air in black, oily energy.
The symbol of a skull with a beating heart, the sigil of the Corpseheart Family.