‘Ready up!’ he barked, moving forward and raising the AA-12, indicating the tunnel over Local to the others; they’d given him communication lead permissions, so he could generate icons to direct their attention which would be displayed via their eye lenses AR capabilities, arrows and boxes and labels. He kept these quite simple, owing to their lack of experience. Just arrows to point them in the right direction then a big red box around the tunnel exit, labelled: ENEMY.

  There came a shrill whistling sound, one that rose and merged, a battle cry that poured from the dim interior of the castle. It preceded a deluge of bugs from inside, mandibles clacking and feet clattering as they charged directly at Nicolai and the others.

  They were emerging from a relatively narrow opening, one only wide enough for around ten to come out at once.

  ‘Shoot them,’ he spoke over local, while switching the label from ENEMY to FIRE, taking aim and squeezing his AA-12’s trigger, sending a hail of buckshot into the bugs. Around him, gunfire erupted and rapidly rose in volume as the others joined in.

  Dark green ichor and chunks of chitin burst into the air as the front wave of bugs were obliterated. The next wave received some of the same, as bullets which had missed or punched through continued on to wreak devastation amongst them, and immediately the flood of bugs was stymied, bottlenecked at the exit.

  There was something Nicolai found quite satisfying about effectively directing the others, as he commanded a gradual retreat in the direction of the Kill Me tower and they responded with acceptable alacrity.

  A retreat was necessary because the bugs weren’t stopping and there were a lot of them. The drone he’d sent whirring into the tunnel, passing over their heads, had found a seething mass of them inside, pressing and squeezing in their need to come out and kill. Beyond that, there were sounds of battle coming from all around, and the drones further afield were seeing more bugs, and undead, emerging all over and setting on one another.

  The battle from below had come up top, and there was little to be gained from joining in. Shooting bugs and undead benefited one very little, and the fact that the rattling of guns around Nicolai represented points rapidly evaporating into the air, caused him a twinge of distress. Each magazine of 32 shotgun rounds he fired cost him 800 points, each SMG mag emptied cost 375. He estimated this skirmish had already cost him an excess of three thousand points.

  The others were slowing, magazines were clicking empty. ‘Move and reload, move and reload, slow and steady,’ he chanted at them, filling the gap with his own fire, as he’d kept his rounds in reserve for this moment, as had Jo.

  ‘Shit!’ yelped Perro, the boy dropping his magazine as he went to reload with fumbling fingers, falling to his knees and grabbing at it.

  ‘Relax,’ Nicolai told him. ‘Take your time. No rush. We’ve got this.’ They did not have that much time but there was no point him screaming and yelling about mistakes like this, that’d only make them fumble even worse. ‘Make sure your self-defence chip is engaged,’ he added, and Perro blinked then his movements stabilised, growing smoother as he slotted the magazine in and rose to his feet.

  Nicolai setup a covering fire movement, where half the group fired while the others moved and reload, and they began cycling in this manner. A few sharp commands and the use of combat marking software to set up zones of fire and mark specific bugs for specific shooters, and the other quickly became quite effective in laying down fire. Even so,

  This wasn’t enough to counteract the simple number of bugs, which began to press out of the choke, but they were almost at the Kill Me tower. Meanwhile a rank of undead had appeared from a different exit in the castle, and approached the bugs from the side. Whatever was going on here was bigger in scope than just his group and these bugs; from the sounds and drone sightings of more bugs and undead stirring, something was afoot. Regardless, once the undead arrived he and the others would be able to relax and sit this one out.

  That was when he heard a piercing cry and looking up saw the bird, spreading its wings, beating and leaping into the air.

  Its gaze was fixed on him and through the angry ripples in the Aura he knew it recognised him.

  It launched itself down, the air screaming under its wings.

  ‘Get to the tower,’ he told the others, turned, and ran. He sped into a sprint, jumped with such power that he threw himself forward, then activated the Pegasi ring and grasped hold of a nearby chunk of rock with his Grasping Finger. With an effort of will, Soul, and muscle, he wrenched his arm back and burned Oma and launched himself forward.

  The wind howled in his ears such was his speed as he flew through the air, and he fluidly ended the Grasping Finger’s effect before its momentum was spent, grasping onto another chunk of stone at the edge of his Soul Sense’s range and dragging again, building up even more speed.

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  He had to get away. This area was too open for him to hide from the bird. Fighting it was unlikely to end well.

  But he could feel the bird, charging towards him. He felt the ripples of its coming through the Aura, knew that this represented its great, unstoppable Soul Sense, bearing down on him.

  Turning, he pulled two chaffbang grenades from his pouch, pulled the pins and hurled them up at the bird, then continued fleeing. This trick had been effective before, so he thought it worth another try.

  He watched through some of his Soul Sense, and two of the drones, as the grenades flew towards the bird. The bird was only a hundred-odd metres away, in the air, its legs outstretched as though intending to land on Nicolai, its eyes focused on him and full of predatory rage.

  The grenades rose as it fell, and they were approaching its face very fast, but still quite distant—outside of effective range.

  The bird suddenly beat both of its wings in a great clap, far faster than it normally beat them. So great was the power of this flap that its body momentarily paused in the air, briefly arresting its plunge.

  Nicolai could feel the oncoming wave of blasting air. He detonated the chaffbang grenades immediately, two great bursts of light and booming cracks that sounded out from above. But he knew they were unlikely to be effective; he’d been forced to detonate them too far from the bird.

  A wave of howling wind screamed down, annihilating the chaffbangs tiny explosions and crashing onto Nicolai below. The force took him and pushed him toward the ground, but he was ready for it, pivoting in the air like a cat. He landed hard but his tensed legs bent and he tumbled forward, redirecting the momentum, then he gained his feet and threw himself into the air. The Pegasi ring had been active the entire time, first helping resist the wind and prepare to hit the ground, then lending speed and power to his movements.

  It wasn’t enough. He managed three more pulls with the Grasping Finger, and covered more than half the space between him and the Kill Me tower. But the bird covered that same space in a quarter of the time after resuming its descent.

  Like a hammer blow from above, the bird’s Soul Sense slammed down upon Nicolai.

  Ever muscle in his body grew tense as he retracted his Soul Sense tendril and clenched his Soul, forming the best Loose Guard he was capable of. Unable to utilise his Soul Sense tendril, he also was unable to use the Grasping Finger, and so touched down on the ground. The Pegasi ring drove him forward, lending him greater speed while he sprinted over the ground.

  The Soul Sense hammer impacted and his Soul Sense was almost broken in one, the mighty blow ringing his Soul like a bell. His vision fuzzed and his awareness of his body dimmed.

  For a moment, he struggled, catching his feet on something on and stumbling.

  But within him the thrill was raging. His Soul was limned in fire as it grew strong again, and he refirmed his Soul Sense, and he sneered.

  The bird struck again and as he saw its Soul Sense coming, he knew that this time, he would not be able to resist. Though his Soul Sense was rapidly regenerating as Oma was burned in his Nodes, and though his defence, in this desperate moment, was the best it had ever been, still it wouldn’t be enough.

  The bird simply outweighed him by too great a margin. It was too strong and he too weak.

  But even a mouse, when chased by the hawk, has options.

  Nicolai’s defence evaporated as the bird’s Soul Sense slammed into him, and then the Soul Sense attack simply passed straight through. It was an odd sight in his Cultivator’s eyes, as it disappeared into the ground. Like a punch that had gone through the target without impacting.

  He had retracted his Soul Sense into his body. Now inside, it was protected by the skin of his Soul; a powerful barrier that was significantly harder to break. However, the bird’s Soul Sense tendril was immediately back and around him, blanketing him and holding him tight, keeping his Soul Sense from reemerging.

  The bird was only metres above him. It let out a victorious cry as it extended its talons, aiming to land right on top of Nicolai who continued to run.

  But his eyes had found what he was looking for, a large flat rock, angled and dug in good on the ground. His body sprung and twisted, movement aided by the Pegasi ring as he landed on the rock, legs bending and building force like great springs. He exploded off the rock, all his momentum and movement reversed in an instant as he hurled himself in the opposite direction.

  There came a shriek of rage and a deluge of crumbling and tearing, the very ground shaking as the bird crashed into it behind him. Its heavy, taloned feet, each almost the size of a small car, drew great furrows in the earth.

  As Nicolai sprinted away, now in the opposite direction, he saw with drones as it turned around behind him. Its Soul Sense clung tight to him and its eye shimmered with an ominous yellow glow.

  The world twisted around Nicolai as something seized him, a formless force, the same it had used last time. His Soul erupted, Soul Sense struggling to emerge, tearing at the clutch of it around him.

  But this time the bird was ready for his counterattack, and now he was well within its Soul Sense, rather than on the very edge like before. Nor was Beth here to help him.

  His brief defence was crushed as its Soul Sense clenched like a vice around him, and a terrible headache rang through his skull as his Soul let out a spasm of pain, some small part of it destroyed.

  The force around him appeared as a yellow glow, the same as shone from the bird’s eye. It lifted him from the ground and he could run no longer, then it was pulling him to the bird. He had activated the Pegasi ring at maximum power but it was no good; he didn’t think any number of them could have helped him here. The force was on a different level.

  He was turned to face the bird as it dragged him through the air. He drew two Oma crystals and pulled hungrily on them, restoring his largely spent Nodes.

  The headache had become a pleasant ringing, a buzzing in his clenched teeth, the dark and the thrill unfolded within him. ‘Here we are,’ he said, and laughed, grinning, his eyes boring into the bird, into his enemy.