CHAPTER 8: THE KING'S SHADOWING
Shit... this guy is on a different planet, Alina Glade thought, her vision blurring as she struggled to maintain her focus. It's not just that he's fast. It feels like I'm fighting five Darios at once. Every time he moves, the air itself feels like it's rotting.
She tried to summon another Jinx shield, her fingers trembling as she traced the air. But the Curse User was already there. He moved with a sickening, liquid grace, closing the distance before she could even finish the ritual sign.
With a low, guttural laugh, the man drove his fist into her stomach. The impact was absolute. Her defensive shield didn't just crack; it shattered into a thousand useless sparks. Alina was doubled over, her knees hitting the metal floor with a painful thud. She gasped for air, but her lungs felt like they were filled with lead.
"Hehehe... hey now, are you seriously done already?" the man asked, tilting his head with a mock-pitying expression. "Come on, little Sorcerer. Keep fighting. Give me a reason to stay interested."
Before she could respond, he delivered a brutal kick to her chin. Alina's head snapped back, and she collapsed fully to the ground, the world spinning into darkness.
"You better not die on me, do you hear me?" the man hissed, his voice dropping into a dark, threatening tone. "If you die before the handover, I'll get in trouble with those people. And they are much less forgiving than I am."
To emphasize his point, he raised his heavy boot and ground his heel into the side of Alina's head, pinning her to the cold floor. "Tch. How boring. I can't even kill you properly because you're meant to be a 'sacrifice' or whatever nonsense they have planned for you."
He looked around the carriage, his eyes landing on the rows of trembling passengers. "But... I suppose I can at least get rid of these annoying Association gnats. I'll just tell the Boss she died during the struggle. A tragic accident. Hehe."
"Please! Please, sir... spare her life!"
A voice broke through the silence of the carriage. It was the middle-aged man who had spoken to Alina earlier. He was shaking, his face pale with terror, but he stepped out into the aisle. "I'll do whatever you want! Take me instead! I'll go with you, just... please don't hurt her anymore!"
The Curse User stopped and looked at the man as if he were a talking insect. "Aw-shucks... do you really think your pathetic life is worth even a fraction of hers? You're an old man. You have no Jinx, no flavor. But you know... I really dislike Sorcerers. And I especially hate weaklings who think they have a say in how I play."
The man grabbed Alina by the throat, lifting her limp body into the air like a ragdoll. He raised his other hand, his dark Curse energy coiling into a jagged, lethal blade.
"Tell you what," the man said, a cruel light in his eyes. "If you can put up a fight with me, I'll spare her. What do you think? I'm trying to be considerate here."
The passenger froze, knowing he stood no chance. The Curse User laughed, the sound echoing through the train car as he prepared to drive his shadow-blade through Alina's heart.
WHOOSH.
A sudden, violent gust of wind tore through the compartment. It was so fast the windows rattled in their frames.
"ARGH!"
The man's scream was ear-piercing. He dropped Alina, clutching his right arm as a fountain of dark, hot blood sprayed onto the seats. His hand the one holding the Curse claw had been severed clean at the wrist. It fell to the floor with a wet thud, still twitching with dark energy.
Standing in the center of the aisle was the boy in the black tracksuit. He held Alina in his arms, his expression bored and calm. He moved with a silent grace, gently placing her down on a nearby chair.
"Come on, dude," Dawn said, his voice cutting through the man's screams. "Do you really have to go that far? She's just a girl."
The Curse User fell back, his face contorted in a mix of agony and disbelief. Who is this? he thought frantically. I didn't even sense him. I didn't see an attack. There was no sign of him coming here, no sign, no Jinx flare... just a flash of movement.
He gritted his teeth, his dark energy surging toward his stump. Within seconds, the blood stopped flowing and the flesh began to knit itself back together the terrifying regenerative power of a high-level Curse.
"I don't care who you are," the Curse User roared, his eyes turning blood-red. "I'm going to tear your heart out and eat it!"
He dashed forward, moving at a speed that would have been invisible to a normal human. He went for the kill, his remaining hand wreathed in a massive claw of shadow. But as he swung, his hand met nothing but air.
He looked up, confused. The boy was gone.
"Up here," a voice whispered from behind him.
The Curse User spun around, but he was too slow. Dawn was already in the air, his hand surrounded by a dense, flickering aura of Jinx energy that didn't look like the "Minimum" rank the others used. It looked heavy. It looked ancient.
Dawn slammed his hand into the back of the Curse User's neck.
BOOM!
The impact sounded like a building collapsing. The Curse User was driven face-first into the metal floor with such force that the steel plating buckled and cracked, forming a crater beneath him. The entire carriage groaned under the pressure.
Dawn stepped back, shaking his hand out and looking down at the unmoving body of the man who had just defeated both Dario and Alina.
"Oops," Dawn muttered, his eyes drifting toward the remaining hijackers who were standing paralyzed with shock. "My bad. Looks like I went a little too far with the power output. I forgot how fragile you guys are."
The hijackers looked from their fallen "strongest" member to the boy with the blue scarf. They didn't even try to raise their guns. They could feel it now the air around the boy wasn't just cold anymore. It was heavy, vibrating with a power that made their very souls want to kneel.