Chapter 144: The Lightning Waltz
The river cut through the forest like a silver scar, its surface catching the pale light of dawn as it rushed over stones worn smooth by centuries of current.
Kaya ran at the head of the decoy team with her boots barely touching the water, mana flowing downward through her feet and forming a thin layer of compressed energy between her soles and the river's surface. Behind her, the three clones followed in formation.
The false Lucas maintained the same fluid stride as the original, the false Ethan limped just enough to suggest a serious injury, and the false Austin stumbled at irregular intervals as though exhaustion had nearly robbed him of the strength to remain upright.
For half an hour, they had traveled east toward the river valley, where the terrain became increasingly rugged and the forest grew thick enough to conceal entire groups of soldiers.
Kaya had deliberately kept the decoy team visible, allowing brief glimpses of them to appear between the trees while leaving traces of mana along their path. Every detail had been calculated to make their pursuers believe they were desperately trying to escape.
The bait had worked.
Four elites had followed the trail, including two Six Stars and two Seven Stars who had survived the massacre at the depot.
They had found the decoy team's trail twenty minutes earlier and had steadily closed the distance ever since.
Their mana signatures burned brightly within Kaya's Pure Eyes as they pushed themselves to match the team's speed.
Like Kaya, they ran across the river by channeling mana through their feet, although their movements were less refined and sent small splashes across the surface whenever their concentration faltered.
When the river bent westward, the decoy team abandoned the water and climbed the enormous rock face rising from the opposite bank. The four pursuers followed without hesitation.
For them, gravity was no longer an absolute law, but the climb still demanded concentration and strength.
Kaya reached the top first.
She stepped onto the clifftop and turned toward the four figures climbing after her. Her white eyes swept across them before settling on the three clones.
"Keep moving," she ordered. "Follow the river east. I will catch up."
Kaya waited until they were out of sight before drawing both kunai.
The first elite reached the top a moment later.
He was a Seven Star warrior with a longsword strapped across his back, and fire mana flickered along the weapon's edge.
One hand gripped the cliff while the other reached for the stone above him. As he hauled himself over the edge, his eyes immediately found Kaya.
She was already moving.
Blue-white lightning erupted across her body, racing from her shoulders down her arms and into the kunai in her hands.
[Lightning Spell: Lightning Strike]
Kaya drove forward with explosive speed, one kunai thrusting toward the warrior's chest. The Seven Star reacted instantly, ripping his longsword free and turning the blade across his body.
Steel collided with lightning with enough force to shake the clifftop, and the impact numbed both of Kaya's hands.
Rather than retreat, she twisted her wrist and redirected the pressure against his blade, forcing it downward. The elite recovered his footing and shoved upward, creating enough space for himself to breathe. Kaya immediately changed her angle, but another figure reached the cliff.
A Six Star elites emerged behind her with curved daggers in both hands. Water mana coiled around the blades like living serpents as he lunged toward the base of her spine.
Kaya sensed the movement through the electrical field surrounding her body and twisted sideways. One dagger passed through the space where her back had been, while the second grazed her clothing. She pivoted on one foot and drove her heel into the assassin's chest.
The impact forced him backward, but he used the momentum to complete his spell.
[Water Spell: Aqua Barrage]
Dozens of compressed water bullets formed around him and immediately converged on Kaya from multiple angles. She crossed her kunai and released another spell.
[Lightning Spell: Fulmination Shroud]
Lightning wrapped around her body, forming a dense aura that clung to her skin like a second layer of armor.
The water bullets struck the shroud one after another, exploding into steam before reaching her flesh. Heat washed across her face, and the sudden cloud of vapor obscured the battlefield.
The protection worked, but every impact drained mana from the shroud.
Kaya felt the cost immediately.
Her breathing grew heavier as she maintained the spell, and the muscles in her legs tightened beneath the strain. She could not afford to stand still.
Two more elites reached the summit together.
A Seven Star woman emerged first, carrying a spear whose shaft was wrapped in spiraling copper wire.
Beside her came another Six Star warrior whose hands were already forming the signs for a water spell.
The four enemies spread across the clifftop, surrounding Kaya from different directions.
"Four against one," the spear-wielder said calmly. "Those are poor odds."
Kaya tightened her grip on the kunai.
"You are right," she replied. "You should have brought more."
The fire user attacked.
[Fire Spell: Great Fireball]
A sphere of roaring flame materialized before him, nearly three meters across. The intense heat distorted the air around it, and nearby stone began to darken beneath the temperature.
The fireball surged toward Kaya with enough speed to overwhelm an ordinary cultivator.
She crossed her kunai and slashed outward.
[Lightning Spell: Twin Arc Slash]
Two curved waves of lightning erupted from her blades and crossed through the incoming fireball. The attack split the sphere apart, sending both halves spinning toward opposite sides of the clifftop. They struck the stone and exploded, throwing burning fragments into the air.
Kaya used the blast as cover.
[Lightning Spell: Storm Waltz]
Lightning accelerated through her muscles as she burst into motion. Instead of moving in a straight line, Kaya shifted direction repeatedly, changing her footing with every step.
Her movements appeared chaotic to the enemies, but every turn carried her away from one threat and toward another.
Small spheres of compressed lightning formed behind her whenever she changed direction.
The first detonated beside the fire user just as he recovered his balance, throwing him sideways and forcing him to roll across the stone. The second exploded near the water caster, scattering his concentration and disrupting the spell he had been preparing.
The spear-wielder anticipated Kaya's next movement.
She slammed the butt of her spear against the ground.
[Earth Spell: Grasping Stone]
The rock beneath Kaya erupted.
Massive hands of stone burst upward and closed around her ankles. Her forward momentum stopped violently, and her knees nearly buckled under the sudden restraint.
The water caster seized the opening.
[Water Spell: Jet Stream]
A high-pressure lance of water blasted from his palms. The compressed stream carried enough force to punch through steel.
Kaya could not move her feet, so she changed the battlefield instead.
[Lightning Spell: Polarity Reversal]
A pulse of magnetic force expanded from her body.
The Jet Stream struck the invisible field and bent around her, breaking into multiple streams that carved shallow channels through the stone before spraying harmlessly into the surrounding trees.
The water caster stared for a fraction of a second.
That hesitation was enough.
Lightning surged through Kaya's legs.
[Lightning Spell: Destructive Bolts]
Thin bolts pierced the stone hands from within, splitting their structure along multiple fractures. The restraints shattered, and Kaya launched herself forward before the fragments had finished falling.
Her kunai aimed directly for the water caster's chest.
The dagger-wielder intercepted her.