Runic Domination

Chapter 16 || Somebody, Give Me A Real Opponent

"What is the point of this, Skyler?" Cane seemed calm as he addressed Paul in front of him, but his eyes kept shifting to Tyler and me as we blocked off the exits. "I don't know what you think you are doing but if you were looking for a fast ticket into jail, I am more than willing to oblige."

He was smiling at us, seemingly unperturbed by the disruption.

"Mr. Cane." Paul stepped forward, smiling back at him. "If there's nothing to hide then I bet you won't have any problem watching what we have to show."

"This is an official council meeting, not a stage for you to play around as you please."

Paul didn't waver. "I can assure you, we, the Dark Hunter Guild, will accept full responsibility for this incident."

For a short moment uncertainty flashed over his face, but then the mask of a political leader slipped back into place as he frowned slightly, feigning disappointment.

What a fucking actor.

Disgusted, I turned away to scan the crowd. Some people looked confused and even slightly scared, others angry, and some had serious expressions on their faces. The other council members were seated a bit to the side on a balcony overlooking the stage. Only a few of them seemed outraged. The rest was surprisingly calm and relaxed as they watched the events unfold.

Paul must have prepared at least some of them.

I felt a bit annoyed that Paul didn't give me much of a heads up about what was happening here. Then again, I didn't listen and went to look for Kai again. So maybe––

"You take left, I got right." Tyler interrupted my musings. Five security guards had jumped on the stage. I could tell that they were not as ordinary as the ones we'd dealt with before.

I rushed forward, spear in hand, immediately blocking one of them from reaching the center. He jumped up into the air, three meters at least. Probably an air mage. As if to confirm my suspicion, a gust of wind encircled me and my breath hitched. He was trying to suck the oxygen out of the surroundings while simultaneously pushing me down.

Not bad.

Too bad the air was also my element.

I conjured a current of my own, immediately nullifying his pitiful efforts, and in the next second he was blasted straight off the stage, right into the opposite wall.

Whoops.

I didn't expect him not to block my attack at all. Maybe he wasn't even able to see it coming? Should I hold back more? There was no further time to contemplate, since the other fool had started casting his own magic. Water rose up around me, completely walling me off from the others.

A liquid spear formed in his hand as the raging stream was being pressed into a somewhat solid form, ready to burst at any moment. He seemed to have some talent at least. His face showed how sure he was of himself as he smiled at me confidently. I was trapped.

He dashed forward, his spear ready. Instead of pointlessly blocking it with my own, I side stepped and grabbed the water. Blood sprayed around my hand, but I ignored it. He was laughing at my attempt to stop him.

I chuckled coldly as lightning shot up from my hand. He didn't get any chance to react as it traveled along the water and hit him full force. His smirk was washed clean off his stupid face as his whole body lit up briefly. The distinct smell of burnt skin filled the air as the water around me fell back to the ground, harmless, followed by his smoking body.

Never mind. Another weakling.

When I turned, I saw three bodies lying around Tyler.

Damn. He was faster.

They seemed to be knocked out cold. I had missed some of the happenings on stage, but Tyler seemed to be handing over a transmission crystal to Paul.

Everyone held their breath as the crystal activated and in the next second, images started to fill the air above the stage. A dark tunnel was shown at first. People, mostly young were walking in a line their heads hanging low. The angle was moved, now focusing on the cells that were set into one side of the corridor. Kids were stuck inside, their bones sticking out and their eyes dulled. Most of them barely wore any clothes. The worst part were the runes. They were strewn across their skinny bodies, covering every bit of skin that could be seen. I could already tell that more than eighty percent of them would turn. They were walking zombies.

Behind me the crowd was shocked into silence. The person recording was lined up with the other in front of a thick black door. The images fell onto the other people lined up. Some gasps were heard as they crowd saw the man chains biting into the skin of a girl in front. Despite the shaky images, it was obvious that her small body was trembling.

"Stop this nonsense," Cane shouted as angry voices mixed into the crowd. Panic started to spread as the crowd was shocked by the horrifying sight.

Cane stepped forward as if trying to stop the live broadcast and more security stormed the stage, but Paul signaled to our guild mates hiding in the group who immediately rushed up to intercept them.

Moving my gaze away from the recoding I stepped up to help and together we fought off the guards as the horrifying scenes kept playing. One after the other the children and young adults were led through the door, shaking in their chains. No one returned.

I was in the middle of blocking a guard swinging his sword on me when, on the screen, the door opened again. This time however, a man stepped through. His image was flickering so it was hard to make out his features, but the image of what came through next was crystal clear. It was some sort of creature. Long spindle limbs ended in sharp claws. Its head was long, sort of horse shaped with several fangs on each side of his mouth. The whole thing looked like a nightmare.

Suddenly, everything around me seemed to stop as people's attention was drawn back to the crystal. The security guards paused their assault, seemingly holding their breath as they waited to see what would happen. Even Cane stood still as he watched the images closely.

When my eyes searched for Tyler, I froze in shock. His usual calm demeanor was nowhere to be found. His hood had fallen back, revealing a pale face. Both of his hands were clenched tightly as his eyes were glued to the scene that was being shown.

There was no audio transmitted, but the man said something, and then the creature seemed to sniff the air before it started moving. Slowly. Towards whoever was recording this.

Wait a second...

There was only one person missing here who was able to pull this off.

My sister.

I watched in horror as that thing crept closer and closer. All the prisoners shown shrank away in terror, crying and trying to cover themselves.

It stopped looking right at us. Then the man walked over. Although he should be easy to see at this distance his features seemed distorted, flickering in and out.

He said something, reaching forward. My sister backed away, effectively dodging his hand. But it was no use. In the next second the crystal went black.