Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 53: Partial Eclipse [2]

//Note for readers: The words in single quotation marks are conversation in mind (Telepathy beteeen Luna and Kairos)

Luna pushed his consciousness deep into the dark center of his own soul. He found the massive golden chain wrapping tightly around his core. The Cosmic Lock. Luna placed his mental hands against the glowing golden metal. He shattered it more wider.

CRACK!!

The sound echoed only in his mind, but the recoil was instant. Infinite mana rushed into his body. "They do not think like we do," Luna said, his voice was different. It was echoing with a strange, overlapping authority that made the stone floor vibrate slightly under their boots.

Kairos kept his guard up, glancing quickly over his shoulder. "Luna? What should I do?"

’I leveled the playing field,’ Luna gasped, speaking in Kairos mind directly, his burning silver eyes firmly fixed on the assassins. ’They share a hive mind. They use a network of shadows to coordinate their teleportation. They just project their intent, and I just hacked right into the middle of it.’

One of the Knights raised its dark sword and stepped forward. In the blink of an eye, the massive armored figure disintegrated into a cloud of black mist.

’Kairos!’ Luna shouted in Kairos’ mind, his eyes darting to an empty patch of air on the right side of the balcony. ’Three steps right! Thrust backward at waist height!’

It was a crazy order. There was nothing on the right side of the balcony except empty space and the stone railing. But Kairos didn’t hesitate. He didn’t look behind him. He trusted his best friend with his life.

Kairos abandoned his defensive stance, dashing three quick steps to the right, swung smoothly on his heel, and drove the silver blade of Asteria straight backward into thin air.

For a split second, Kairos felt foolish, stabbing the wind. Then, the black mist swirled around his blade.

The Black Mist Knight appeared out of the shadows, lunging forward with its sword raised. It teleported onto Kairos’ waiting weapon. The timing was so precise it looked like the monster had deliberately impaled itself.

SHIKKKKK!

The holy silver pierced the dark armor, punching straight through the center of the monster’s chest plate. The assassin froze in its tracks. A sickening hiss echoed across the balcony as the purifying light of Asteria burned the dark mana from the inside out. The armored figure shuddered once, then collapsed into a pile of gray ash, scattering across the stone floor in the night breeze.

One down.

’It works. Can you hear my thoughts Luna?’ Kairos breathed thinking in his mind, pulling Asteria back. He gripped the hilt tighter, a sudden surge of hope filling his chest. ’Keep calling them out, Luna! Be my eyes!’

The three remaining Knights on the balcony shifted their stances. The empty voids beneath their helms seemed to narrow. They realized physical speed and random teleportation were no longer enough. The boy with the glowing eyes was reading them. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Inside his mind, Luna stood in a dark void. He saw three bright red lines of intent shoot across the black space, connecting the minds of the monsters. They were forming a coordinated attack pattern.

Target the sword wielder. Flank from both sides. High and low.

’I can hear you, Kairos. They are trying a pincer move!’ Luna grunted into Kairos’ mind, blood dripping from his nose. ’Bend low, sweep right, then roll forward and stab up!’

SHUSHHHH!!

The two Knights vanished into mist simultaneously. Kairos crouched to one knee. A dark blade cleaved the empty air exactly where his neck had been a second earlier. He used his downward momentum to spin, sweeping Asteria in a wide, rising arc to his right.

SLASHHHH!!

The silver blade caught the second Knight right as it stepped out of the shadow rift. The holy sword sliced clean through its dark helm. The monster disintegrated into ash before its boots even fully touched the ground.

Kairos didn’t stop moving. Following Luna’s command, he threw himself into a forward roll across the cracked stone floor.

He came up in a crouch and thrust Asteria straight up toward the sky.

THUD!!

The third Knight appeared in the air right above him, holding its sword in a downward grip. It fell onto the shimmering silver tip of Kairos’ sword. The blade pierced its stomach and erupted through its back.

Ash rained down heavily on Kairos’s shoulders.

Two more down.

Only one Knight remained on the stone balcony. Kairos stood up, shaking the gray ash from his dark jacket. He felt a fierce, burning rhythm taking over his body. Fighting blindly against teleporting phantoms was a nightmare, but fighting them with a genius mind reader calling the shots turned Kairos into an untouchable executioner.

’We have it on the run,’ Kairos thought, stepping forward to finish the last one.

But the final Knight did not attack Kairos.

The towering figure stopped moving. It slowly turned its dark, empty helm away from the silver sword and looked at Luna.

The hive mind had figured it out. The boy swinging the sword was dangerous, but he was just the weapon. The silver-haired boy bleeding on the edge of the balcony was the radar. He was the anchor. If they killed the radar, the swordsman would go blind again.

Luna saw the red line of intent snap toward him in his void.

Target: Zephyros Heir. Immediate Execution.

’Kairos,’ Luna whispered into Kairos’ mind. His voice was weak, barely carrying over the wind. His knees buckled slightly. ’It is coming straight for me. Down the middle.’

Kairos pushed off the ground, rushing across the balcony to intercept the monster, but the mana vacuum made his boots feel like lead. He was too far away.

"Luna, move!" Soltheia screamed. She grabbed his sleeve, desperately trying to pull him backward toward the safety of the stone stairs.

But Luna couldn’t move his feet, holding the bridge open and managing the flow of mana required every single ounce of his focus. If he broke the connection or lost his concentration for even a second, the infinite energy would tear his fragile human brain into shreds. He was paralyzed, stuck standing exactly where he was.

SHISHHH!!

The last Knight vanished into mist. The freezing air swirled in front of Luna. The skewering monster reformed, raising its dark blade high above its head for a lethal, splitting downward strike.

Luna just stared at the falling blade, his silver eyes wide.

BOOMMMM!!

Suddenly, a heavy metal pole smashed hard into the side of the Knight’s helmet. The impact wasn’t enough to kill the monster or shatter the ancient armor, but the force was enough to throw the strike off balance. The dark blade slammed into the stone floor, missing Luna’s boots by a mere inch.

Ignis stood there, panting heavily, holding the bent metal tent pole with both hands. He had forced himself up from the bench, ignoring the searing pain of his broken ribs. Without his fire magic, he was just a regular guy swinging a stick, but his pride refused to let him stay down.

"Nobody touches my friends," Ignis growled, spitting a fresh blood wad onto the stone.

The Black Mist Knight recovered instantly. It simply backhanded Ignis with its heavy armored gauntlet, sending Ignis crashing backward into the stone railing. Ignis let out a sharp groan. But Ignis’ reckless distraction bought them the crucial second they needed.

A shadow fell over the Knight. Terravarous stepped right in front of Luna. The giant’s back was bleeding from the deep gash, but his sheer size formed a wall of muscle and bone. Terravarous wrapped his thick arms around the Black Mist Knight in a brutal, crushing bear hug, lifting the struggling monster right off its feet.

The toxic black mist leaked onto Terravarous’ bare arms, burning his skin like acid. The giant roared in pain but tightened his grip, refusing to let go.

"Kairos! Now!" Terravarous roared, his veins bulging against his dark skin.

Kairos didn’t waste the narrow opening. He closed the distance in three long strides, hovering into the air, and struck Asteria straight through the back of the Knight’s armor.

The monster went rigid. Terravarous released his grip, throwing the ash onto the ground. The giant fell heavily to his knees, taking deep, exhausted breaths.

The balcony was finally clear.

"Is everyone alive?" Velanor asked, rushing over to help Ignis sit up against the railing.

"Barely," Ignis groaned, clutching his chest tightly. "Remind me to never fight without fire again."

Catherine and Seyana hurried over to Terravarous. They used long strips of clean cloth torn from the hems of their dresses to bandage the deep, bleeding cut on the giant’s back.

Luna swayed dangerously on his feet. The silver light in his eyes flickered, threatening to go out like a dying candle. He fell backward. Soltheia caught him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and gently lowering him to sit on the stone floor.

"Luna, you need to stop," Soltheia pleaded, her voice was thick with panic and tears. She wiped the blood from his pale face with her hands. "You are bleeding too much. Close the lock. Please, just let it go."

"I can’t," Luna gasped, gripping her hand tight, his fingers trembling. He raised a shaking arm and pointed toward the edge of the balcony. "The other four... they are coming up."

SHHHIIIIKKKK!!

Down in the plaza, the remaining four Knights levitated slowly out of the deep trench Velanor had created. They drifted upward like dark, ominous clouds, passing right through the solid stone walls of the balcony.

They were in a perfect row, cutting off any escape down the stairs. They had watched their brothers turn to ash. They raised their dark swords simultaneously, pointing the jagged black tips at the exhausted, wounded group.

"They are going to attack together," Luna warned, his breathing growing shallow. "A coordinated strike. Four different angles. I can see the lines forming in their minds."

Kairos stepped forward, placing himself between his injured friends and the assassins. He held Asteria with both hands. The holy light from the blade was dimming. The mana vacuum in the air was slowly choking the sword’s power, making it dull.

He looked at Ignis, struggling just to breathe. He looked at Terravarous, bleeding on the stone. He looked at Luna, slowly dying from the inside out just to give them a fighting chance.

Physical reflexes and mind reading weren’t going to be enough this time. If four teleporting swords swung at once, Kairos couldn’t block them all. Someone was going to die.

He had to end this right now, using the only trick he had left.

’Luna,’ Kairos murmured in his mind, his face calm and steady against the night wind. ’Give me their landing coordinates. All four of them.’

’It won’t matter,’ Luna coughed and replied back to Kairos telepathy, a line of blood running from his nose. ’They are teleporting to four different corners of the balcony same time. You can’t be in four places at once. You aren’t fast enough.’

"Just give me!" Kairos shouted out loudly, never taking his eyes off the dark Knights.

Luna closed his eyes, reading the dark intent forming in the void. ’Top left corner. Center right. Directly behind Terravarous, and right above me.’

’Got it.’

Kairos took a deep breath. He let his tired muscles relax. He stopped fighting the suffocating weight of the dome pressing down on the city. He reached for the power resting deep within his own soul.

The System interface flashed across his vision, glowing a bright, warning red.

[WARNING. MANA LEVELS ARE CRITICALLY LOW. ACTIVATING DOMINION IN A VACUUM WILL CAUSE SEVERE PHYSICAL RECOIL. PROCEED?]

Do it, Kairos commanded.

[CONQUEROR OF TIME: LEVEL 1. INITIATED.]