CHAPTER 86: CH 86: SAVE THE DAY.

The room had held its breath with Nightwalker’s words, his eyes intensified but no one did anything, at least not until Aegon.

He stretched out his hands and hurled a fireball at Nightwalker.

"..."

The room froze again. Robbers and hostages alike were so shocked when Aegon fired they forgot to move.

Nightwalker finally regained balance as he turned his head to Aegon in an expression that was in the least furious.

As his eyes began to glow in Aegon’s direction he turned to Mira. "I need you to protect the hostages and neutralise the robbers."

She lowered her position as she could see Nightwalker’s eyes too. "What’s your plan, Aegon?"

~BAM!~

Nightwalker shot out his lasers that flung Aegon into a pillar and erupted dust everywhere.

The dust settled but Aegon was somehow still intact. ’Claudette was right about the plating.’ He pushed himself off the ground and raised his hands in surrender. "I’m sorry."

Nightwalker marched to him slowly. He cracked his neck once. "I’ll show you sorry."

Aegon sprinted across the marble floor as Nightwalker’s lasers chased him like a rat. He ducked, turned and scurried away.

But he’d finally had enough. He stopped and took a deep breath, gathering more air into his lungs and mouth than ever before

~BUU!~

He breathed out fire that engulfed the Paragon. He kept stronger and held his ground but there was still obstruction in the flames.

Nightwalker was still moving.

"...!"

With every step of him forward, Aegon took a step back. It was a battle of strength and he was losing badly.

As the last embers of flames were dying down as Nightwalker only inches away, he could do nothing but brace himself.

~BAM!~

Nightwalker’s fist tossed him light a ragdoll. He crawled up to all fours and turned—he was still coming after him.

He turned to the side, Mira who was standing her ground and defeating the suspects. Which means his only problem was the Paragon. Great.

Before he could stand up Nightwalker lifts him up by the hair and raises him until his feet were off the ground.

He extended his arms and blasted him again and again but he wasn’t bulging. He drew a long breath—but before he could fire Nightwalker grabbed him by the neck trapping the air in his lungs.

"That’s not gonna work this time." Nightwalker hissed as he drained him of life.

The fire in his hands were dying down, his body wasn’t phasing—probably because he was held too tightly.

The corner of his eyes began to dull, his hands more erratic—he was passing out.

Just before it turned black, he touched Nightwalker’s arms and hoped this would work.

Aegon’s eyes glowed golden as he copied Nightwalker’s affinity. He shot lasers out his eyes and directly at the Paragon’s face.

He dropped Aegon who fell to the floor gasping for air, turned to see Nightwalker coming back—even more pissed.

So he ran. He scurried away. Aegon didn’t think—he moved.

Phasing was out; he couldn’t focus enough to dissolve. So he ran, legs burning, toward the stairwell they’d come down. Behind him, he could feel Nightwalker’s presence—a slow, predatory walk that somehow kept pace without effort.

"Running already?" Nightwalker’s voice echoed, amused. "And here I thought you had spine."

Aegon hit the stairs two at a time. A golden beam seared the wall beside his head, melting concrete into glowing slag. He flinched but kept climbing.

Fifteen seconds, he thought. The copy’s gone. Back to fire and fading.

Another blast took out the step just ahead of him. He leapt, stumbling, catching himself on the rail. His palms burned.

"You know," Nightwalker called from below, voice growing louder without strain. "I don’t mind a little sport. But you made it personal back there."

Aegon risked a glance down. Nightwalker was floating up the stairwell, golden eyes glowing in the dim.

Panic tightened his chest. He turned and hurled a stream of fire down the shaft—not to hurt him, just to buy space.

Nightwalker passed through it like it was mist, his suit unblemished. He grabbed Aegon’s ankle just as he reached the next landing.

"Got you."

Aegon phased—just his leg—and Nightwalker’s grip slipped through. He didn’t look surprised. Just intrigued.

"Clever," he said, before slamming a fist into Aegon’s ribs.

The impact was brutal. Aegon crashed through the stairwell door, skidding across the polished floor of what looked like an office level. Desks, monitors, chairs.

He rolled, gasping. Even in the suit, something was cracked. He could feel it with every breath.

Nightwalker landed softly in the doorway, dust settling around him.

"You’re an awakened ," he said, stepping closer. "These things should be considered bugs under your feet, but instead you play hero. You... you interfere."

Aegon pushed himself up, one arm wrapped around his torso. "You were going to kill that hostage."

"I was going to make a point." Nightwalker tilted his head. "But you made one instead."

He moved—a blur—and grabbed Aegon by the face, lifting him.

"Let’s see how you make it to the roof."

He threw him.

Aegon flew through the glass wall of an office, shattering it, before tumbling into a cubicle farm. He phased just before hitting a desk, passing through it, but the whiplash still rattled his bones.

He was running again before the glass stopped falling.

Up. That was the only thought. Get to the roof.

Another floor. Another stairwell.

Nightwalker didn’t rush. He blew holes through ceilings to appear ahead of him, forcing Aegon to dodge, to backtrack, to scramble through crumbling drywall and sparking wires.

Once, Aegon managed to copy his lasers again—firing wildly to force him back—but fifteen seconds wasn’t enough. Not even close.

By the time he saw the open doorframe with the sign above—ROOF ACCESS—he was bleeding from a cut above his eye, limping, one arm hanging useless.

Nightwalker materialized in front of the door, blocking it.

"You really thought you could get away?"

Aegon didn’t answer. He breathed in, deep, and let out a sustained blast of fire—not at Nightwalker, but at the ceiling above him.

Concrete groaned. Reinforcement bars glowed red. And with a shudder, the ceiling collapsed between them.

Nightwalker didn’t flinch as rubble bounced off him, but it created a curtain of dust and debris.

Aegon phased through the mess, lunged for the door, and slammed his good shoulder into it.

Cold air hit his face. The roof.

He staggered out under a gray sky, the city stretching in all directions below. The bank’s roof was flat, lined with vents and communication arrays.

He’d made it.

But he wasn’t alone for long.

He didn’t walk through the frame. Nightwalker simply punched through the wall beside it, stepping out as if he’d chosen a new entrance.

He brushed dust from his shoulders.

"Good effort," he said. "Really. Better than most."

Aegon backed toward the edge, heart hammering. He had nowhere to go. Nowhere but down.

Nightwalker’s smile was thin, cold. "What’s the plan now, kid?"

Aegon’s mind raced—fire, phase, copy, run—but every option felt like a dead end. The Paragon took another step, his shadow stretching long across the rooftop.

’I really fucking hope this works.’ He thought desperately as he whipped himself around, grabbed onto the ledge and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Nightwalker’s saved the day again!"