“How are you alive?  How are you here?” Kyle asked, his mind racing.  The man standing before him was none other than Gregory Valentine, the former leader of Liberation.

“You can ask that bastard DeRosa about it once I send you both to hell,” Valentine growled.  “If it wasn’t for you, he never would have gotten his hands on me in the first place.”

Before Kyle could reply, Valentine blurred into motion.  At the same time, Kyle felt a whisper of unmistakable power, C Grade.  His eyes widened, and he barely had time to step back to avoid a downward cut from the thin rapier, then sidestep the dagger thrust that followed.

How can he be in C Grade?  Kyle thought, desperately dodging another flurry of attacks.  If it weren’t for Reflexive Evasion, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure whatsoever.  Keeping his footing on the steep angle was difficult, and Gregory’s position meant that he was approaching from the high ground, keeping Kyle on his heels.  He tossed a nod to Skippy, who was already dashing for the other teleporter.  Valentine was entirely focused on Kyle, so they had an opportunity to escape.

Something dark pulsed under Valentine’s skin for just a moment as the C Grade aura appeared for just a moment.  The sword wielder vanished, and Auric Perception warned Kyle of a presence behind him, just as Synaptic Barbs warned him of something approaching from directly above.  Ignition blooming to life in his chest, Kyle stepped forward, simultaneously releasing a blast of Repel above and behind him as he accelerated out of the way.

Valentine was sent flying upward, where his blades bit into the ceiling, keeping him suspended like a spider.  Withdrawing his dagger, Kyle saw another pulse of dark veins his arm as he released a flurry of cuts, flying blades of mana angling through the air directly toward Kyle.  Each of the strikes felt slightly weaker than Garth’s Air Blade, but the dozens of strikes each second made up for intensity with quantity.

Kyle dodged what he could, though the strikes that got through did little more than leave superficial scratches, quickly healed up by Adaptive Regeneration.  Seeming to realize his attacks were ineffective, Kyle saw Valentine’s muscles tense as another pulse of darkness rippled through his body, the man kicking off of the angled ceiling and leveling his blade directly at Kyle.

Thanks to Reflexive Evasion and the warning provided by Identify, Kyle was able to narrowly sidestep the piercing attack, Valentine’s blade biting deeply into the metal floor where Kyle had been standing.  Identify warned him of a thin layer of mana coating the blade, and he understood the danger it posed immediately.

Similar to the shrikes, Valentine had grasped the concept of sharpness, and was now infusing into the mana of his weapon.  Whether through the help of a skill or pure manipulation, Kyle recognized that the blade wasn’t something he could simply block with his body.  Even worse, it left a lingering trail of energy in its wake, like a cutting thread that still threatened to bite into him.

With an onslaught of strikes every second, it was everything Kyle could do to simply keep up and avoid getting pinned down.  He cast a look over toward Skippy and Tillienne, who were on the teleportation platform.  Skippy pressed her nav bracelet to the interface, followed by his, and the platform was beginning to thrum to life.  He cast a worried look to Kyle, an odd expression for the skrell.  Kyle gave what he hoped was a reassuring nod, before the teleporter fully activated, whisking them both away.

The moment they disappeared, Valentine stopped his attacks, looking back at the platform.  “So, that’s how it works.  No wonder I couldn’t get them to function.”

His eyes looked to Kyle, then flitted down to his wrist.  Kyle got a bad feeling as the dark veins continued to pulse through Valentine’s body, the frequency increasing.  I have to get some distance.  After seeing the delay for Skippy and Tillienne to teleport away, Kyle knew that there simply wouldn’t be time for the teleporter to activate without Valentine getting onto it.  That was something Kyle absolutely would not allow to happen.

Looking at C.H.A.D.D.’s maps, there was another set of undamaged teleporters near the highest point of the damaged settlement.  Failing those, there was another floating settlement over an hour’s journey to the south.  Pushing more power into Ignition, Kyle sprinted toward the nearest teleporter, activating Healing Impetus to prime his cells with even more regenerative energy.  Surviving Valentine wasn’t going to be easy, and he’d need every edge he could get.

As he anticipated, Valentine moved to intercept him, his arms covered in a web of dark purple veins as his blades lashed out.  Kyle ducked a swipe from the rapier, but was unable to evade both weapons, taking a nasty cut across his chest from the dagger.  In trade, Kyle activated a full-force Repel, blasting Valentine up into the ceiling, while also propelling Kyle down the steep incline of the ruined structure.

As he flew out of the building the teleportation platforms were in, he used Repel once more, collapsing the weakened door frame as he propelled himself down the slope.  Adaptive Regeneration was fighting hard to close the cut on his chest, but as with the shrike matriarch, the conceptual sharpness behind the strike made the injury difficult to heal; remnant energy continually trying to bite into him.

He gave a quick activation of Healing Impetus to overcome the damage, while diverting his course to where he remembered a collapsed section of the structure.  A large piece of metal had fallen to the forest below, leaving a large hole in the slope.  They’d navigated around it during their ascent, and now Kyle jumped straight in.  As soon as he dropped below the bottom of the structure, he activated Repel, shoving himself out of a clear line of vision from the hole.

Thankfully, C.H.A.D.D. understood what Kyle was aiming for, and immediately activated the pack’s propulsion carrying Kyle southward.

Once they dropped below the canopy of the forest below, C.H.A.D.D. finally spoke.

[THAT WAS RECKLESS, DR. MAYHEW.]

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Kyle replied, focusing on Auric Perception.  There was no hint of Valentine’s presence, and with C.H.A.D.D.’s map also being clear, Kyle was hopeful that the gambit paid off.

[THAT WILL BE DETERMINED ONCE WE SUCCESSFULLY GET OFF THIS PLANET, DR. MAYHEW.]

“Fair point,” Kyle conceded as his feet touched the ground.  His running speed with Ignition active was one of his greatest advantages, consistently helping him outpace most every opponent he’d faced thus far.  Even if Valentine found a way to track him, Kyle was hopeful that his maneuver bought him enough time to make it to the next teleportation platform and finally make his escape.

Still, he felt a sense of unease creeping through Pack Leader’s Instinct.  C.H.A.D.D. was worried.

“What’s wrong?” Kyle asked, tackling it directly.

[I DID NOT SENSE A PRESENCE AT ALL UNTIL WE APPROACHED THE ROOM WITH THE TELEPORTERS, DR. MAYHEW.  IF WE ARE BEING TRACKED, IT IS REASONABLE TO ASSUME THAT HE HAS MEANS OF CONCEALMENT THAT ARE NOT EASILY SEEN THROUGH.]

Kyle sighed, as the scars on his stomach ached with phantom pain.  “C.H.A.D.D., if he’s that much stronger than us, we were dead the moment we met him anyway.  This is the best that we can do.”

That seemed to calm the drone somewhat, and they ran in silence toward the next floating settlement.  Unlike the abandoned skeleton they’d left, Kyle saw a guard stationed at the nearest lift.  He raised his hand toward Kyle as he approached, clearly nervous.

“Halt!  Are you with Corthian Mining?”

“I am!” Kyle shouted.  “Now, get on the lift!  We need to move, now!”

“What about other survivors?” the man sputtered.  “We were going to keep the lift open for another day!”

“Nobody else is coming from the north,” Kyle growled, flashing his Collective credentials.  “Trust me, let’s go!”

The bewildered guard didn’t have the faculties to protest, and the lift raised both men to the settlement above.  How slow is this thing?  Kyle complained internally, looking out into the forest as it slowly moved beyond the tree canopy.  Just before arriving at the settlement proper, Auric Perception screamed a warning, as a C Grade presence washed over the area.

A shadowy figure erupted from the forest nearly a kilometer away, shooting toward the lift like a comet.  Kyle swore as a blade of razor-sharp mana slammed into the lift, slicing through the mechanical components and sending it careening toward the ground.

A second blade broke the glass containment, striking both Kyle and the guard.  The attack left deep scratches on Kyle’s arms, though the guard didn’t have time to give anything more than a surprised look before he collapsed to the ground, his torso almost entirely cut through.  Kyle gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do for the man at this point.  His heart and lungs were destroyed, and Healing Impetus could only do so much.

With a leap and activation of Repel, Kyle got to the landing of the lift, where pandemonium ensued.  People were running away from the damaged lift, which was sparking and grinding.  The moment Kyle crested the top, he ran straight for the teleporter.  He cursed the incompetence of the settlement’s leadership, leaving a small retinue behind.  Didn’t they get the message for a full evacuation?

Whether by luck or by tracking, Valentine had found the settlement.  Nobody here had the power to fight the man, and as much as Kyle was loathe to leave these people behind, he knew that his staying wouldn’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things.  He could only hope that Valentine wouldn’t be able to make his way onto one of the escape barges.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Kyle’s entire body froze.  A searing pain bloomed from his chest, and Ignition forcibly deactivated.  His mana slowed to a crawl as he struggled to move his body.  For a moment, there was confusion.  Then, a sense of realization washed over him, at the same moment C.H.A.D.D. projected a scan of his body.  With horror, Kyle realized that Valentine had left a brand on him when he’d struck with the dagger.  A brand that had now been activated.

Stupid, he chastised himself.  How many times had Jarberry warned him of things like this?  Hell, in his studies, he’d read about skills that involved placing temporary brands or marks on targets, skills that were common even among E Grade Ranger-types.  And yet, during his healing, he hadn’t even thought to check for a mark like that to try and dispel it.

Focusing his mana, he started eroding the sigil, which was already dispersing as its invested energy activated.  He’d be able to get it cleared up in less than a minute, but he felt the ever-increasing aura of a C Grade approaching.  Any advantage he’d gained with his clever trick had been spent.  Valentine was here.

C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning, at the same time the sigil finally broke.  Without hesitation, Kyle activated Storm Shelter as Valentine appeared above him, blades crashing into the barrier, leaving deep cracks in the barrier.  Valentine’s body changed, deep purple and black fungal mass covering his whole body.  His face and head was covered by a featureless black mask, made from the same fungal material covering him.

His entire aura felt more stable, more powerful, as he was no longer suppressing his mana.  Two more cuts destroyed the remnant of Storm Shelter, and Kyle desperately used Repel to try and gain more distance.  Valentine met the blast of force with his rapier, a blade of energy parting the blast without so much as shifting the former Liberation leader a step.  Still, Kyle was blown back, and he used the opportunity to gain more distance.

His mind raced as he tried to think of something, anything, he could do.  He felt that Parasitic Resonance was close to being available again, though he wasn’t sure how much good it would do.  Even weaker C Grades took some time to be overwhelmed by the skill, and from the aura Valentine was giving off, the man wasn’t weak.

How did he get so powerful, so fast?  Kyle wondered.  He ran across the settlement, intentionally moving through the least populated areas that C.H.A.D.D. indicated.  There were still altogether too many people on the floating structure, but if he could give at least some of them time to escape while he worked on his plan, it would be worth it.

At least, that was the plan.  In a familiar move, Kyle stopped as a shadow appeared before him, Auric Perception warning him of the sudden appearance of the C Grade aura within.  At the same time, Synaptic Barbs warned him of a physical presence that suddenly appeared behind and above him.  Kyle jumped backwards, right as a massive drill of mana pierced through the platform directly in front of him, leaving a gaping hole to the forest floor below.

“Nicely dodged,” a gruff voice said.  Kyle whirled to face it as Valentine landed lightly on the ground, his rapier thrumming with power.  “But, it’s time we ended this game, once and for all.  Goodbye, Mayhew.  Once I catch up with Victor, I’ll tell him to send my regards.”

Feeling the block on the skill finally end, Kyle activated Parasitic Resonance, connecting to C.H.A.D.D. as he extended tendrils toward the former Liberation leader.  At the same time, Valentine blurred into motion, faster than ever before as he thrust out with his rapier. Kyle instinctively activated Storm Shelter, as Reflexive Evasion had him dodge to his right.  He felt something weaken his barrier the moment before the rapier struck, and the whole skill shattered.

There was a flash of pain, and then numbness, weightlessness.  He saw the sky above as he fell backward into the hole left by Valentine’s ambush attack, and saw something falling with him.  With disconnected fascination, he realized it was part of his left arm.  He tried to comment on it, but there was no air in his lungs.  He felt… wrong.  With his last moment of consciousness, he saw that a hole had been ripped into his torso, taking everything from his left shoulder through his right pectoral muscle.  Then, everything was cold, and his world went dark.