Air traffic is heavily regulated within the city. Each district sets its own variant rules regarding its processes and punishments. A prowler, like the ones the Trepidor brothers were currently on, would catch the attention of traffic controllers soon enough, with the way its operation bypassed the statutes regarding its height, usage towards dedicated pathlines, and its unlicensed nature.

  Sure enough, Nyx spotted patrol vehicles in the distance inching their way through the flow of sky traffic towards the prowler.

  Spotting lightweight armor on Cadmi, and his brother Siegren, who drew out a strange shield, it seemed Cadmi would be the one focused on nimbleness. A strange device seemed to show itself for a brief moment under Cadmi’s left sleeve and Nyx became wary. It was always in a hunter’s nature to keep an eye out for discrepencies which may influence the tide of battle.

  Just then Nyx began to see the ground beneath Siegren’s feet light up. Whatever he was up to, she wasn’t going to let him complete it. She dashed straight at him, blade in hand, and leapt back as the arch of a blade swung down from her left peripheral. At that moment, ship jerked to the side as a it made a turn.

  “You’re not getting out of this, Valkyrie,” he said. Nyx didn’t respond, instead looking at the blade which retracted underneath his sleeve. Though hidden blades made for great assassinations, in this case, it should actually hamper Cadmi’s combat skills, as the reach of such weaponry would always fall short when fighting against standard Johrei blades, even when extended.

  Nyx didn’t let up, attempting to stop Siegren from doing whatever he was about to do, and dashed in again. Cadmi, seeing this began to step in front of his brother. However, this time, she tossed some small orbs into the air before her and swung her blade at them, causing them to release a plume of smoke which briefly obscured her torso behind it.

  Cadmi, unsure of how to approach began to raise his left arm, and saw an extended Johrei blade pierce through the cloud of smoke and attempt to stab him in the face. However, Nyx, unable to see what had happened from her end, noticed her blade struck onto something that felt harder than mere lightweight Johrei armor. In fact, a clean stab at such a focused point, should’ve pierced straight through such armor. When the smoke dissipated, she realized what had happened.

  A shield, which ripped through Cadmi’s left sleeve, formed to guard himself against her strike.

  But that’s impossible, Nyx thought, having never seen a Johrei weapon change its form like that. Cadmi had done something that shouldn’t have been possible, as the binding of Johrei to equipment solidifies its form. Only a skilled blacksmith could manually separate the Johrei from the Bastion metal underneath to reshape the equipment and reapply the Johrei on top. What Cadmi just did, bypassed all logical understanding of Johrei weaponry.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Still wrapping her head around this newfound development, Nyx barely managed to notice and deflect the string of Johrei which weaved its way into her vicinity. She wasn’t that close to the brothers at the moment, and the attack she just blocked felt unintuitive for a blade. That’s when her eyes widened, and she noticed the Johrei, hanging off of Cadmi’s left arm like a whip.

  He began to swing against, throwing off Nyx as the whip wrapped around and nicked her shields with each successive strike. Though not too damaging, points of Johrei greatly weekend around her and made it difficult for her to decide which parts of her armor she should try to protect from future strikes. She thought she found an opening to close in at one point, but he extended the blade forward, in a straight line this time. Knowing that his blade could do more than just a simple Johrei thrust, she kept her eyes focused on the attack, attempting to knock it away from Cadmi long enough for her to get a stab in. However, in the next moment, Cadmi swung his arms back and whipped his arm forward, forcing the otherwise straight blade to curve around Nyx’s attempt to deflect. Instead, Cadmi’s whip of Johrei wrapped around her blade, and with a quick tug, he pulled the blade right out of Nyx’s hand, leaving her without weaponry.

  “It’s done,” Siegren said. Where he stood up, Nyx didn’t notice anything unusual at first. However, upon second glance, the air around the floor near Siegren’s feet began to shimmer ever so slightly.

  Nyx had an idea for what it might’ve been and she clocked it into her own mind never to allow herself to step within that area.

  Just as she was processing her next move, Cadmi lunged at her, whipping his blade towards her against her now defenseless body.

  Well, looks like I’ll have to go to Plan B.

  She barely evaded a strike and grabbed a handful of orbs from her pouch, tossing them to the floor beneath her.

  Onlookers looked up to see an explosion rumbling in the air, seeing the damaged hull of the Prowler as the rear end of the vehicle knocked downward drastically from an explosion at its hull.

  On the ship, the brothers shield shimmered, as they attempted to regain their balance.

  “Are you crazy, woman?!” Cadmi screamed, seeing Nyx’s shimmering shield through the cloud of ash and dust. Another handful of explosives lay in her hand and Cadmi’s eyes widened. She was going to bring down the whole ship in the next attack.

  He and Siegren began to pull out shields in front of them, ready to brace themselves for impact. At worst, she’d hurt herself in the process, and the brothers will just have to find another way to reach their destination later. First things first is to get rid of this nuisance.

  As she was about to throw down the second set of explosives, and loud thud rang at the side of the ships, knocking its orientation askew. All three members aboard the ships held their footing, eyes gazing towards the cause of the impact. In the distance, the three combatants saw the silhouette of a small fleet of ships inching their way towards them.

  On one of those ships stood a woman clad in shining ornate armor, surrounded by men and women wearing similar armor. Her hands opened, and the handle of a giant hammerlike weapon the length of her body flew towards her from the opening of the ship that it had lodged in just a second ago.

  The surprise lasted only a second and Nyx was already annoyed.

  Ah shit…it’s Taysa Polaris, Nyx thought, as she watched the leader of the hunter Division, The Paladins, join the fray.