Chapter 18: 'How Fast Would You Fall'
"I guess it's time to start the hunt," Tor said as he stepped out of the building. His eyes flicked toward Jin, locked in combat with IK. She spared him a glance, her voice steady even in the chaos.
"Happy hunting, young lord."
Tor broke into a run, cutting straight through the battlefield. For a heartbeat, the world slowed. Movements dragged, saints faltered, even IK's thoughts froze. The sound of distant explosions and shattering stone stretched, every impact ringing in slow motion. Dust swirled around his feet, debris from collapsed walls spiraling into the dim morning light. Jin seized the moment, her sabres flashing — two level three saints fell, their armor scorched and twisted. Tor's fists struck like inevitability, crushing a level two and a level one saint before he vanished from sight.
IK's body refused to move. His mind reeled as he watched his allies slaughtered like livestock. Rage twisted his face. The wind whipped across the battlefield, carrying the metallic scent of blood and ozone. Dust clouded his vision, sparks of residual magic igniting in the air.
"You little bitch… I don't know what sorcery you and that little fucker just used, but one thing is certain — you're both from the Spatial Fortress!"
Finally freed from paralysis, IK snapped. Sanity had never been his strength, but now he abandoned even the pretense of fear. His gaze darted across the ruined ground, watching his men falter, stumbling over rubble, wings frantically flapping as if sheer panic could anchor them.
Jin's gaze was contemplative for a moment, then emptied of emotion. Her shadow stretched long across the cracked battlefield, red-tinted flames licking her sabres.
"Hmmm… I don't care if you think you're a detective. We never planned to let you go. So please — just die."
Her bloodlust surged, heavier than anything IK or his mercenaries had felt before. The air thickened, oppressive, her aura transforming into something wholly unnatural. Sparks of spatial mana twisted around her limbs, igniting residual fire in spiraling arcs. Each heartbeat she emitted radiated power; the ground beneath her feet seemed to buckle subtly under the weight of her intent.
IK's grin twisted, lust and cruelty dripping from his words. "So what if you're from the Spatial Fortress? Do you think that makes you powerful? Today I'll taste a woman from the Fortress. I heard they're sweeter when they cry."
Jin's voice was calm, but her aura flared hotter. "Do you think dogs have the right to taste swan? Let me see the ability that deceives you into thinking you can touch this."
Her pupils glowed deep red, piercing through the dim morning. The shadows of rubble flickered across her face as if reacting to her energy. IK's instincts screamed, forcing him to raise a wind shield without thought. The air between them twisted with tension, electric and raw, the scent of ozone sharp in his nostrils.
"There's something different… I have to be careful," IK muttered.
Jin vanished. Dust and scorched air were the only markers she had been there. She reappeared at his left, sabre slicing in a precise, fluid arc. Deep red flame tore through his shield, forcing him backward as a gale carried him away. The surrounding air rippled with spatial distortion, shards of broken earth spinning lazily around the scene.
"You broke my shield with one strike? And flames — from the Spatial Fortress?!" IK's voice cracked, disbelief gnawing at him.
Jin smiled faintly, her eyes burning crimson. "Why would I explain anything to a corpse?"
She advanced slowly, each step heavy with intent. The heat from her aura warped the air, causing faint mirages along the battlefield's horizon. IK spat curses, raising his sword — but she was gone again. Sensory wind flared, yet she appeared directly before him, sabres crossing like scissors. His blade barely parried, but her flames burned through his wind, searing his hands. Sparks hissed, the smell of ozone and burning steel filling the thickening morning haze.
IK screamed, wings of wind bursting from his back as he hurled himself away. Jin appeared behind him the instant his feet touched ground, leaving a streak of red light in the aftermath. She moved almost like liquid fire, the terrain bending subtly around her as if reality itself accommodated her presence.
"Don't you know distance is a matter of split seconds to us?"
Her sabre tore through one wing, fire and space mingling, leaving a gash across his back. He staggered, but before she could finish him, the remaining saints leapt in, mandates crashing down. The ground caved beneath their combined assault, fissures opening like veins across the battlefield. Smoke and debris swirled, and the screams of burning men echoed from the crumbling ruins.
For a moment, they thought they had struck true. Then the world ignited.
A hurricane of black-red flames spun around Jin, spatial mana twisting the fire into something unnatural. Screams filled the air, saints burning alive within the inferno. IK's eyes widened — towering flames, crimson pupils gleaming through the inferno, his wings melting slightly in the intense heat. He forced his severed wing to regrow, panic overtaking arrogance. With a desperate flap, he fled into the sky, abandoning his men to their fate.
Jin's laugh followed him, soft and mocking. She walked forward, flames dying down, her pupils dimming but still terrifying. The air settled into an eerie calm, the scent of charred earth and scorched steel lingering like a warning.
"Hey, hey… why are you running? You've been talking so big since the afternoon."
Her voice was a whisper in his ears, soaked in mockery, making his heart pound. Weight pressed onto his back — Jin had landed, clutching both wings of wind. Alarm surged through IK. He shot upward, breaking the sound barrier, climbing vertically into the atmosphere. Clouds loomed above, turbulent and darkened by the aftermath below, but Jin clung to him effortlessly, unshaken.
As they pierced the sky, sunlight fractured across the clouds, glinting off embers and flickering flames still dancing around the ruined battlefield. Jin smiled.
"Oh wow… you sure can fly fast. I wonder how fast you'll fall."