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“Return. My. Sister.”
Felix glared at the man as the pink glow around his body burned fiercer than ever. Orpheus glanced nervously at his friend, who looked as though he was about to explode at any moment. Titus, on the other hand, only seemed impressed by the sheer magnitude of the boy’s psychic aura.
“May I ask you a question, comrade?” Titus frowned a little. “Why are you on their side? Do you think you’ll have a better life aligning yourself with the people who oppress our kind? Or have you forgotten what you are?”
“I’m just a brother worried sick for his sister.” Felix’s eyes flitted to the Necromancer beside him. “And I don’t discriminate between races.”
“How noble of you. Or should I say,” Titus's voice dropped menacingly. “How remarkably naive of you.”
Felix watched his every movement carefully.
“Sorry, it was not my intention to be hostile.” Titus paced around the devastated cabin. “It just… infuriates me what society has done to all of us. They keep telling us to be part of their world, and yet all they’ve done is turn the world against us. How many of them actually accept us for what we are?”
The man pointed to Orpheus.
“How do you know he isn’t your friend just because of your strength? Can you be sure he will not turn against you when a war inevitably breaks out between both our kinds?”
“When?” Felix asked cautiously.
“Power is a universal language, my brother. The weak cling to the strong in hopes of shelter until they find a way to bring us down,” Titus said. “Such was, and still is, the way of our world. Meta-kind once reigned as superior, until magic was discovered. They begged for mercy when they were at our feet, and stepped on us when they were gifted the power of Arcani. Our power.”
“That’s bullshit,” Felix spat. “Arcani exists naturally and manifests itself in different ways. You must be stalling for something. I won’t let you.”
“My boy, I don’t want anything else but for our race to reign superior again.” Titus chuckled darkly. “You have the strength of a god, as do I. Take your place as the rightful ruler of humanity by our side. It is our birthright.”
“You’re a fool if you think that’s going to convince me. Return my sisterto me now.”
“Oh, I will. But only if you agree to aid my cause. Come with us. Lend your fellow Metas your power, and your sister will go free.”
“Felix, don’t do this!” Orpheus shouted desperately. “It’s a trap!”
“I’ll never fight for a criminal like you.” The pink glow returned to Felix’s eyes. “Now tell me where my sister is, before I beat it out of you.”
“Ah, Felix, who said anything about you fighting for us?” Titus threw his head back in laughter. “We need your power, not you.”
Felix gestured for Orpheus to get behind him. “You want it? Come and get it.”
“I suppose this deal is off, then.” The smile slipped off Titus’s face as he turned around, shaking his head. “Pity, I would’ve preferred you to come quietly.”
Titus swung around without warning and lunged at Felix with frightening speed. His movements were a blur even to Felix, but the psychic’s shield was already up.
The man’s fist collided with the pink shield and cracked it like a piece of glass. Thunder seemed to roar in Felix’s ears as the resulting shockwave caved the ground in. He grunted in effort, desperately reinforcing his shield as Titus pounded the psionic construct relentlessly. More cracks began to spread rapidly as the barrier weakened at a dangerously fast rate.
Gods, this man’s power is insane.
Felix brought his palms together and reshaped the barrier into a spear. It met Titus’s feet this time and shattered instantly upon collision. Another powerful shockwave burst out. It struck Orpheus squarely, sending his body flailing back in the turbulent winds.
“Orpheus!” Felix telekinetically reached out to his friend, but he was too slow to stop Orpheus’s body from slamming onto the ground.
He turned back and growled at Titus. “Damn you!”
Felix clenched his fist and punched the air, mustering as much energy as he could into a single psionic blast. Titus formed a fist as well, blocking the attack with a punch of his own.
But he had underestimated his opponent’s rage.
A deafening tremor split the ground in half once more, but Titus was sent flying a few metres back this time.
Felix wasted no time, slamming a huge psionic hammer onto his foe in an attempt to crush him like a cockroach.
A huge chunk of ground sank along with Titus as he fell to one knee, struggling to push back the equivalent weight of a skyscraper. He swung the psychic construct to the side before leaping out of the way. The pink psionic energy dispersed before it touched the ground.
“Lucia was right. Your psychic power would have sufficed to stabilise the spellcraft.” Titus stood up and coughed violently. “You’re making this very troublesome for me, Pagonis. Now I really have to resort to Plan B.”
“What’s plan B?” Felix asked hostilely.
“Just remember, you made me do this. Your sister’s blood is on your hands,” Titus growled. “And so is the blood of your fellow psychic types.”
“Grant me your power, O divine Muriel,” a familiar voice announced from nowhere in particular.
A beam of white light struck Titus squarely in the chest without warning.
Three Magis revealed themselves beside Felix as the cloaking spell dispelled in a puff. Cleric Elpis moved forward and immediately tossed a device at Titus. It split itself into five separate pieces, catching the criminal’s limbs and anchoring them to the ground with arcane chains.
“Cleric Nerva? What’re you doing here?” Felix asked. “What is this?”
“Technomagick,” Elpis replied simply, tapping her visor with a slender finger. “Power nullifiers controlled by this. I’ll take it from here and personally escort this man to the constables.”
“The constables?” Felix asked suspiciously. “What are they going to do with him?”
“Take him to the gaols, of course. He’ll be executed by tomorrow, if we’re lucky.”
“Wait, what about my sister? He kidnapped her, shouldn’t we investigate that first?”
“I don’t think you comprehend just how dangerous this man is, boy.” Elpis folded her arms. “The world is going to be a much better place without people like him. We’ll look for her after we’ve dealt with this threat. You have to trust the authorities—”
“I don’t! They don’t care about us. I have to save Marcia!” Felix shouted and reached for Titus’s hand, but the glow surrounding him promptly dissipated upon coming into contact with his skin.
“What?” he sputtered. “Why can’t I use my telepathy?”
“They’re Arcani nullifiers, Felix.” Kleopatra rolled her eyes. “It suppresses all the Arcani it touches, including yours.”
“No! I need to read his mind before it’s too late!” Felix grew increasingly agitated. He turned back to Elpis as pink covered his irises.
Elpis yelped in pain as the visor was violently ripped from her face. It disintegrated with a single squeeze of the boy’s hand. The technomagick anchors dropped to the ground, and Felix seized the chance to reach for Titus.
But he was too slow.
A fist met his face, and the boy was sent tumbling away. Titus clapped his hands, knocking the rest of the Magis back as well with the resulting shockwave. He sneered at them for one last time before disappearing into the distance with a full sprint.
“No, no, no… NO!” Felix scrambled to his feet, sending out waves of psionic hands futilely. But the criminal had long escaped, and so did his only lead on Marcia. Footsteps rushed towards him.
“Felix! Are you alright?” Gaius shouted.
“Foolish boy. What have you done?” Elpis berated him. “You let that man escape!”
“No! You did that!” Felix yelled back, his body trembling in anger. He stepped away slowly from the Magis standing in front of him.
“You Magis… All you Magis are the same! You don’t care about us. None of your kind cares about us!” The aura surrounding his body grew more intense. “I won’t rely on you anymore. I have to save my sister… I have to save her myself…”
“Felix—” Gaius reached a hand to him, but it was futile.
The Magis watched helplessly as the frustrated boy burst from the ground and disappeared into the clouds.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEws9umqEki
